L-Arginine for COVID: Effects of adding L-arginine orally to standard therapy in patients with COVID-19
The protein in the food we eat — especially rich in meats, fish, shellfish, dairy products, and legumes such as lentils, peas, and beans — is made of building blocks called amino acids. One of those building blocks is L-arginine, or just “arginine.” Arginine is the raw material from which we make nitric oxide. Nitric oxide plays three critical roles that are likely to be extremely important for COVID protection: Since nitric oxide is antimicrobial, the immune system always makes massive amounts of nitric oxide to kill pathogens. Nitric oxide is the main vasodilator. This means it dilates your blood vessels, making them wider, and allowing blood to flow more freely. This would protect against clotting. In the lungs, nitric oxide combines with another molecule we make from the protein we eat, glutathione, to make nitrosoglutathione . Nitrosoglutathione is our own natural bronchodilator. This means it opens up the airways, just like nitric oxide opens up the blood vessels. This allows u