Customer Reviews

The Arginine Solution: The First Guide to America's New Cardio-Enhancing Supplement

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is fascinating, loaded with important information. But they stay single-mindedly focused on arginine and nitric oxide, no doubt wary of diluting their message with other important facts. Here's one: Chronic vascular disease is the long-term result of damaged collagen from too little Vitamin C, leading to artery lesions patched up by Lipoprotein(a) with LDL cholesterol heaped on top. Did you know that acute scurvy leads to the same result, only much quicker? The root cause of heart disease was strongly proven by a landmark guinea pig study in 1992 by Matthias Rath at the Linus Pauling Institute, replicated in a genetically-mutated mouse study in 2000 at U North Carolina. And to reverse it, you take adequate Vitamin C, lysine, and proline. Sure, it appears that extra arginine is helpful for the 100% of us who have accumulated vascular disease from a life of ignorance and malnutrition, but what if we were to totally clear our arteries? How much extra arginine would we need then? No answer -- and the question is not even asked because they don't even mention Rath & Pauling, appalling in a 21st century book on heart disease.

If you're serious about reversing heart (artery) disease, read Matthias Rath's excellent Why Aminals Don't Get Heart Attacks, but People Do. Short answer: they manufacture Vitamin C in their liver, and we don't. (Except for other high-order primates, and notably guinea pigs, which don't either.) We have to take 5-10 grams per day to make up for our limitation, and a whole lot more when we're sick or poisoned.

“The Arginine Solution” is very well-written, easy to read, and could save many lives, as well as improving the quality of many lives. The authors make a solid case for the use of L-arginine as a safe supplement that lowers blood pressure and prevents atherosclerosis, and cite good peer-reviewed articles in medical journals profusely. I now use L-arginine myself. So why the 2-star rating? The authors have been taken in by what is called the biggest fraud in the history of medicine, the diet-heart fraud. Other books available make it quite clear that eating saturated fat and cholesterol do not cause atheroslerosis, and that high serum cholesterol (below 400 mg/dL) does not cause atherosclerosis or heart attacks. For example, there is Robert J. Moore, “Heart Attack”, 1989; Russell L. Smith, “The Cholesterol Conspiracy”, 1991; Kilmer S. McCully and Martha McCully, “The Heart Revolution. The Extraordinary Discovery that Finally Laid the Cholesterol Myth to Rest and Put Good Food Back on the Table”, 2000; Uffe Ravnskov, “The Cholesterol Myths. Exposing the Fallacy that Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease”, 2000; and Charles T. McGee, “Health Frauds: Uncovering the Biggest Health Scam in History”, 2001. Because of the total confusion over cholesterol and saturated fat, the usefulness of this book is seriously compromised. The authors even went so far as to compare L-arginine to lovastatin, calling the latter “the gold standard” for lowering cholesterol levels (p92). The truth is that in both of the reports on the two placebo-controlled clinical studies published so far, the total death rate of patients on lovastatin was higher than for patients on placebo. A further problem is the continual admonishments to “see your doctor”, “ask your doctor” as though more than 1 physician in 100 would have the slightest inkling of the benefits of L-arginine. If you are to depend on your “doctor’s” endorsement of L-arginine, you will be very disappointed. Most of you will have to make your own decisions. The physiological diagrams photoreduced for this paperback edition are unreadable, even with a magnifying glass, because they are too small and lack resolution (see p80). The authors also caution men not to use L-arginine in conjunction with sildenafil (Viagra), but provide no experimental evidence whatsoever for their opinion, along with the usual “ask your doctor” about the combination, as though most MDs would know. My personal experience is that the maximum allowable dose of sildenafil, 100 mg, is effective for me, with the side-effects of abdominal pain, blurred vision, and headache; while 50 mg of sildenafil taken with 1 g of L-arginine is even more effective, and has no side-effects.

Several people recommended this book to me. I was skeptical, because I normally don't read health books, but once I started reading, I was really intrigued. I thought I knew a lot about taking care of my body, but I had never heard of the amino acid arginine. The authors explained its purpose in the body using really easy terms and examples. Now, I can't imagine NOT taking an arginine supplement. The authors included a list of recommended companies to get arginine from, but I didn't feel like they were "selling" any one of them. I called a few, and the one I chose, Real Health, sent me their product VasoRect. I've been taking it for a little over a week and feel great-more energy. I wasn't particularly concerned about the erectile aspects of arginine because I didn't think I had a problem, but since taking VasoRect, I have realized that my performance HAD deteriorated--it's good to be back! I also like the fact that the authors were straight about the benefits AND the potential risks. They were careful to times when arginine shouldn't be taken, though those times seemed to be few. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is concerned about any aspect of their health--women and men. The authors should be commended for their great service to medicine.

This book is exciting for both experts in the field of nutrition supplementation, medical doctors as well as for those who wish to get in depth information about the latest scientific results on this "versatile" amino acid. The book is well organized and easy to read. It should be most helpful for those who care to stay healthy with nature's building blocks. I recommend the boook to be read by those who take nutritional supplements rather than use precribed medications. This book gives the best survey on this most interesting amino acid.

I heard about arginine, ornithine and carnitine at the gym. Then I read up on the three. The Arginine Solution by Fried gave me the best explanation of how/why arginine is necessary for good heart health. I found it easy to understand. I am sold on the benefits of these three amino acids such that I can't say enough about how good I feel. I've lost weight, have more energy and feel like I have more potential physically. Now, I am an advocate for taking my health into my own hands. I was also told about a source, Papanature that offers a variety of brands and dosages, plus additional documentation on all their products. I stand by their service and know that the ease in ordering has only helped me stay with this healthy regeime I am being so successful at.

The Arginine Solution is a well written book and I would recommend it to anyone looking for information on the molecule known as Nitric Oxide. Nitric Oxide is a gaseous molecule made up of one Nitrogen and one Oxygen and often referred to simply as NO. It should not to be confused with Nitrous Oxide N20 which is better known as Laughing Gas.

The Nitric Oxide story hit the front pages in 1998, when three doctors were awarded the Nobel Prize for their research into this molecule produced by the body, that helps blood flow and relaxes and enlarges blood vessels, and in doing so reduces blood pressure. Check out www.nobelprize.org and look under the Medicine prize winners for 1998 announcing the Awards to Robert Furchgott, Louis Ignarro and Ferid Murad for their discoveries concerning "nitric oxide as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system". The research done by these doctors led to the development of a range of drugs like Viagra which fundamentally increase the levels of Nitric Oxide in the blood stream.

Dr Louis Ignarro who shared the Nobel Prize also wrote a book called 'NO More Heart Disease' which explains how Nitric Oxide can prevent Heart Disease and Strokes, and helps with male erectile dysfunction. His was the first book that I read on Nitric Oxide, but I found it a bit hyper on the subject, although still a very interesting read. The Arginine Solution, the book that we are reviewing here, provides more depth on this subject.

I did note that some researchers at John Hopkins Medicine working with mice found that the enzymes that make Nitric Oxide could protect the heart from damage caused by heart attack or high blood pressure. However they also found that the enzymes could cause overgrowth and enlargement of heart muscle tissue which could promote heart failure. I'm not sure how comparable mice are to humans, but there are a lot of people taking the amino acid L-Arginine and there haven't been any concerns reported to date.

In summary, I am very pleased I got this book.

I actually bought this book quite a few years ago before I had even heard of Amazon. I had taken L-Arginine in my 30's for athletic reasons but stopped it when I had a bout of the shingles. I'm now slogging through my late 50's and this year I developed very severe hypertension. I pulled this book out again and discovered that I was similar to several case studies they mentioned. My doctor pursued conventional treatment with a calcium channel blocker which was effective in getting me out of the danger zone but not out of the long term damage zone. I can only tolerate the minimum dose of the blocker because a slow pulse (as slow as President Bush) rules out any more medicine. After two months, I had not made a great deal of progress toward normal blood pressure and the doctor assured me that it was "good enough" for my age. I'm grateful for the progress I made because I believe I was headed toward a stroke. But I wanted to see if I could do better. Over the past month, I've slowly worked up from 1 1/2 Grams of L-Arginine to slightly more or less than 6 Grams per day. After about 3 weeks, I was able to reduce the blood pressure down to an average of 135 over 84 with a pulse of 50. At that point, I felt comfortable resuming my exercise program. The only side effect I noticed was a crop of cold sores (this is explained in the book) at about 4 grams a day. I backed off for several days and then resumed. I had no other side effects. I should also say that I continue to take the Calcium Blocker, it is a very high quality medicine.

I'm not expecting miracles here. I know I'm not 25 years old and although it would be nice if my blood pressure was about 10 points lower by both measures, my family history and age are hard things to overcome. But I'll take the progress I've made so far.

The main feeling I've noticed is that I feel more warmth in my hands and feet and more strength in my hands. Also, I can't tolerate really hot water in the shower anymore.

No, this book doesn't talk about vitamin C and its dietary advice on low fat diets is conventional. Since there are many other books on those subjects, I'm not sure why a book on L-Arginine is down rated because of that.

If you want to find out if L-Arginine could help you, by all means get this book. The last chapter is very good at explaining who should not take L-Arginine.

In a couple of the areas (sexual potency) mentioned as the benefits of taking L-arginine has worked for me, & it doesn't have the side-effects of taking drugs although there is a chapter in the book that cautions those people who have certain problem conditions. It's not a overnight cureall but seems to work in the body in a natural way.

I heard about arginine, ornithine and carnitine at the gym. Then I read up on the three. The Arginine Solution by Fried gave me the best explanation of how/why arginine is necessary for good heart health. I found it easy to understand. I am sold on the benefits of these three amino acids such that I can't say enough about how good I feel. I've lost weight, have more energy and feel like I have more potential physically. Now, I am an advocate for taking my health into my own hands. I was also told about a source, Papanature that offers a variety of brands and dosages, plus additional documentation on all their products. I stand by their service and know that the ease in ordering has only helped me stay with this healthy regeime I am being so successful at.

A Mr. Joel M. kauffman who wrote that other books prove that eating saturated fat and cholesterol do not cause atherosclerosis is not only misleading but could very well be deadly to anyone believing this. Unfortunately a lot of the information proving just the opposite, was obtained during autopsies. His saying that books by doctors speaking about the "diet-heart" fraud, in other words that diet plays no part in atherosclerosis, and a cholesterol below 400 mg/dl is satisfactory has been proven wrong by many, many deaths. These "doctors" who would say this probably comprise only 1 or 2% of doctors. All others would tell you the opposite. Most valuable information comes from research scientist, not practicing doctors, although many may also be in a practice too. Doctors are to busy treating "symptoms", rather than knowing cures. After their initial training and after going into practice, they are so busy that they can't possibly stay up with the latest treatments. If you go to a doctor you know I am telling the truth. They schedule an appointment for you, and at the same time schedule many others for the same time. If you don't get your questions asked in a minute or less, the doctor is busy writing prescriptions, and getting ready to leave for the next patient who is already waiting in another exam room. The only way many of them know anything about new medications, are by the salesmen/women who interrupt YOUR oppointment time, often, trying to sell their products by getting a doctor to prescribe them.
I do agree with Mr. Kauffman that if you ask a doctor about an alternative treatment, such as L-Arginine, he/she will not even know what you are talking about, even though one doctor won a Nobel Prize in 1998 for his study on L-Arginine and it's ability to produce nitric oxide, and improve you circulatory system, including Blood Pressure, and an over-all improvement in heart function.
My reason for a 4 instead of a 5 is because some of it, as Mr. Kauffman said, was hard to see and read.
Pleas READ ALL you can find on this subject before making up your mind on this or any form of alternative treatments or combinations of both.