The important role nitric oxide plays in your health
With a profusion of consumer nitric oxide products out there, it’s nice to know that we’ve garnered the sponsorship of a truly science-based NO booster. Berkeley Life cares about the research, and has formulated a real physician-quality supplement that reliably boosts NO to support circulation. It’s the real deal for discerning consumers!
—Dr. Hoffman
This post contains sponsored content.
“You specialize in nitrous oxide? So how much L-arginine is in it?”
This is a conversation that has become all too common to our Team when speaking with practitioners and patients alike. It is eye-opening to consider how research has shown nitric oxide (NO) to be a cornerstone in healthy aging but the level of understanding is remarkably low, or at a minimum incomplete. For those who are familiar with nitric oxide, their association is with pre-workout energy boosters, but the power of this signaling molecule is much more nuanced than that. Given its cardiovascular health benefits, NO can play an important role in every patient’s health journey.
To clear up some common misunderstandings, to convert L-arginine into nitric oxide requires a functioning nitric oxide synthase (NOS) enzyme. However, by the time we are forty years old the NOS enzyme is functioning at only 50% of its capacity and continuing to decline at a rate of about 10-12% per decade. This process is referred to as NOS Uncoupling and is driven primarily by BH4 deficiency. While it reduces NO production in the body, it can also lead to increases in oxidative stress.
It is no coincidence that this declining NO production coincides with increased prevalence of common cardiovascular ailments like high blood pressure, along with sexual wellness concerns in both men and women, and low energy levels.
There is an alternative to the L-arginine pathway called the Nitrate Pathway. This involves the conversion of dietary nitrates found in our diet and supplements into nitrite and then nitric oxide.
Here are some of the advantages of the Nitrate Pathway:
- Age Independent: Unlike the L-arginine Pathway, the Nitrate Pathway does not require the NOS enzyme to create nitric oxide and will continue to function effectively all your
- Scavenging Oxidative Stress: Additional NO from dietary nitrates suppresses free radical formation by scavenging both reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS), decreasing oxidative
- Recoupling of NOS: Nitrates play a key role in recoupling the NOS enzyme as it loses effectiveness with age. This by extension improves the efficacy of the L-arginine
In a two-capsule dose of Berkeley Life Professional Nitric Oxide Support, Patients will receive the dietary nitrate equivalent of five ounces of leafy green spinach or seven ounces of nitrate-rich beetroot. Boosts in nitric oxide last between six and eight hours, depending on the individual. By pairing our supplements with the Berkeley Test Nitric Oxide Test Strips, users can validate the effectiveness of the supplement and the body’s ability to convert nitrate into nitrite using our simple saliva tests.
With the applications of nitric oxide being so broad, our initial training for practitioner partners emphasizes that Berkeley Life should be viewed as a cardiovascular health supplement at its core. Beyond this, they can consider the benefits of improved circulation not just in major veins and arteries but also in the vast network of microvasculature. This is something that every patient can benefit from and what makes Berkeley Life the physician-recommended product for you.
Beth Shirley has developed expertise as a pharmacist and certified clinical nutritionist during a 40+ year career. This experience spans compounding pharmacy for individualized treatment, drug nutrient depletion programs, bio identical hormone balance, wellness department development and management, dietary supplement integration, new product formulations and integrative medical practice development. Beth provides clinical nutrition services for wellness-focused individuals across the entire age spectrum. Her specialties include stress-induced hormonal imbalance, intestinal dysfunction, autoimmune and chronic inflammatory issues, detoxification, and super-normal oxidative stress. Over the last nine years Beth has spent time working with some of the leading thought leaders in the world of nitric oxide research and through this has developed an in-depth knowledge on the topic and its potential applications in patient care. She currently is the Executive Director of the Berkeley Life Scientific Advisory Board.
