Red Light Therapy needs Nitric Oxide to be Effective

This video shows that you need to increase Nitric Oxide levels in order for red light therapy to be effective. Citrulline or Arginine will do this.

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Citrulline or Arginine will do this

The speaker in this video, in all of his other presentations, states one should never supplement citrulline or arginine.

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What is the reasoning behind not supplementing with citrulline or arginine?

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I could not find studies that showed serum NO increases or lack thereof in deficient people after L-citrulline supplementation. There is some evidence of increases in healthy young men and evidence of blood flow benefits in older men (but not for women), such as:

and

Nathan Bryan’s statement of the ineffectiveness of L-citrulline supplementation may be unsupported. He doesn’t give any citations on his web site, but, to his credit, he does note his conflict of interest while asserting his impartiality. I’d appreciate any studies pro or con.

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I cannot find any compelling evidence that NO boosters are needed to reap the supposed benefits of red light therapy.
“One study in healthy males found that red light alone increased NO levels similarly to L-citrulline alone, but combining them did not lead to an additional boost in NO.”

Red light therapy alone increases NO levels.
Note: I have a full-body red light therapy device and I use it at least six times a week.
What are the benefits? I have read many papers on the supposed benefits, but subjectively, I just feel good after a session. I have been using red light therapy for over a year, but it has caused no detectable changes in my blood work.

“Multiple studies provide evidence that PBM, especially with red and near-infrared light, can increase NO levels through effects on the endothelium and vascular.”

So, since a study, ( and all studies that I can find about red light therapy are very poor studies)
show no additional benefit from adding a NO booster.

To be sure I have citrulline and arginine on my shelf because bodybuilders swear by them,
I do know that they work. How? Because I have taken my blood pressure before and after taking them, and they definitely lower my blood pressure. N=1

I cannot find any significant studies regarding whole-body red light therapy.
Most of the benefits for a full body are just an extrapolation of smaller area results.

Bottom line: IMO: I believe full body red light therapy will have long-term benefits, especially in blood circulation. You can add a NO booster for many reasons, but it is unlikely to be synergistic with red light therapy.

“Our results strongly support 670 nm light can regulate dilation of conduit vessel by releasing a vasoactive nitric oxide precursor species and may offer a simple home-based therapy in the future to individuals with impaired blood flow in the leg.”

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Anecdotally, I have a red light belt that I put on my knees. They tend to hurt a bit, but less when I put the belt on them for a while each day.

I’m told there is evidence that it helps mitochondria function better, which would be enough by itself to improve tissue function.

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IMO the best and healthiest way to increase NO is to eat leafy greens and/or drink beet or celery juice. The inorganic nitrate contained therein is circulated into the saliva after absorption in the GI tract, converted to nitrite by “good” bacteria in the mouth, which is then re-absorbed by GI tract and converted to NO in the blood vessels. There are all kinds of studies and reviews published in this area of research. I make sure to eat at least one salad a day, and on days when I don’t, I usually take a shot of “Beet It” beet juice.

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Then 20 to 30 minutes after you consume the above items, take 2.5mg of tadalafil{the lowest dose commercial available] off-label use. male and female. Tadalafil is NOT gender specific {as it is marketed gender specific.]

You will systemically increase NO.

90 generic tadalafil tablets cost less than $20.00 in North NJ area with a GoodRx card/code. Yes you would require a prescription to purchase.

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It’s absolutely not true that you need to increase NO in order to get benefits from red light therapy.

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I use whole-body red light therapy several times per week. I enjoy it but there is very little substantive evidence that that is does anything. Most of the best studies were with doctors using lasers in localized therapy.

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There are a lot of studies showing evidence of benefit for various things, just not really much for aging per se. While studies on lasers are common, plenty of good studies didn’t use lasers. Anyways, you generally can get the same benefits with panels as with lasers, the difference between them is mainly the area the light reaches. Which one fits better depends on what you’re looking to treat.

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I use some LEDs because my reading of the literature is that it leads to greater mitochondrial efficiency.

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I hope so because I have subjectively felt nothing other than the warm similarity to sunbathing.

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Hi, do you know what the dose response impact is, roughly

I was taking 3-5 grams.

What sort of impact did it have on your systolic?

As I recall about 5mm. It’s relatively cheap and many bodybuilders use it.
Get some try it on yourself as I am only N=1

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@DeStrider FYI, I was told by Beth Shirley (in my interview with her) that arginine can lead to increased ROS if you have defective eNOS (for making NO from arginine). She said our eNOS function tends to decline with age. I don’t recall her having any issue with citrulline but said we should focus on dietary nitrates —> nitrites when we get older.

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I love beets but so high sugar content :upside_down_face:

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