Adult Sex Ed.

L-Arginine

Arginine is an amino acid found in many foods, including dairy products, meat, poultry, and fish. It plays a role in several important mechanisms in the body, including cell division, wound healing, removal of ammonia from the body, immunity to illness, and the secretion of important hormones.

The body also uses arginine to make nitric oxide, a substance that relaxes the blood vessels. Based on this, arginine has been proposed as a treatment for various cardiovascular diseases, including congestive heart failure and intermittent claudication, as well as impotence, female sexual dysfunction, and an unpleasant urinary condition called interstitial cystitis . Arginine's effects on immunity have made it useful as part of an "immune cocktail" given to severely ill hospitalized patients and also, possibly, for preventing colds.

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