Home > Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine > Arginine

Description

Arginine is one of the amino acids produced in the human body by the digestion, or hydrolysis of proteins. Arginine can also be produced synthetically. Because it is produced in the body, it is referred to as "nonessential," meaning that no food or supplements are necessary for humans to ingest. Arginine compounds can be used in treating people with liver dysfunction due to its role in promoting liver regeneration.

General use

In March 2000 in Newsweek magazine, Stephen Williams noted the newly discovered role arginine might play in treating people with chronic heart failure (CHF). The study, as reported in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology involved 40 patients who suffered from CHF. Rainer Hambrecht and colleagues from the University of Leipzig in Germany did the research by dividing the...