NOW Sports Nutrition, L-Arginine Powder, Nitric Oxide Precursor, Amino Acids, 1-Pound

If you want the good effects of L Arginine look no further than this NOW brand powder product . First few days i used this i was so turned off by its rotten egg taste and smell that i gave up the powdered form for capsules. But i found the problem with capsules is, even though you may take it with water, by the time the capsule dissolves all the water had been already absorbed. So to facilitate arginine absorption you need to drink water continuously, that's my feeling. NOW Arginine tablets and Twin lab arginine capsules failed for me. The twin lab ones even gave me diarhhea at less than 2G doses. The effects of capsule arginine will kick in only after 2-3 hours, but with this powdered form you can feel a rise in Nitric Oxide, increased blood flow all over and that good feeling in the crotch within 30 minutes and no more stomach upsets. To overpower the putrid smell and taste, i place about 5 g of this arginine powder on my tongue and quickly sip it in with water followed by half a teaspoon of sugar spread over my tongue and mouth (you can even spit out the sugar after a few seconds) or instead of water i use the really sweet minute maid grape/cranberry juice. I take 5G right before i begin my morning exercise on empty stomach and it keeps me pumped for the whole 2 hours. I also take around 5G with each of the two meals i have per day and it seems to work for me, helping me with mood, pump and mr happy. Arginine effects are dosage dependent, so taking 5G gives more effect than a 2G dose. EDIT: Arginine in bigger doses will cause some kind of breathing difficulty, if you are not working out. Initially i found 5G doses to be great as it kept my blood pumping throughout the day. Make sure to do some taxing workout in the immediate period after a dosage to avoid any breathing difficulty. I have stopped taking this stuff as once the initial bleh feeling and taste gets copied into my memory its tough to forget it. In addition to that i have found something even better . Swanson vitamins passion line of herbal supplements especially the safer ones. I have been using Catuaba bark, Avena Sativa, Longjax eurycoma longifolia, Maca and Thyroid support (coleus forskohlii) all of these twice a day and its been good, but with insomnia in the absence of strenuous exercise.

So I have had this container of Arginine for a few weeks. And was looking forward to using it daily. Until I tasted it. Let me back up and say my previous experience with L-Arginine was a few years back when I worked at GNC they had a great Arginine powder in their Pro Performance line. And it was flavored and easy to take. When I saw this, I looked over the fact that it was unflavored. But I expected it to be 'not flavored'. My gosh was I surprised! So after some research, this is pure alkaline. The taste of this will be unbearable for most people. Trying to drink this straight in water or even in some sort of juice will be impossible for almost everyone. But there is hope! After some research, turns out that Citric Acid will be your saving grace here. I used what I have in the pic. Here is the recipe I used: 10oz water 2 level scoops L-Arginine powder 1 to 2 tablespoons Citric Acid 2 healthy squirts of lemon juice from a plastic lemon Mix Arginine until it is totally dissolved. My water turned back to totally clear. Mix in almost all of the citric acid. Water will turn cloudy at first. After about 30 seconds of mixing, water will turn back to totally clear again. At this point, the Arginine should be neutralized. For good measure, I add in just a dash more citric acid and then the lemon juice and mix a little more. There is almost no discernable taste at all even after adding in the lemon. If you need to have it flavored, you could use a drink mix powder of some sort to help it out. I drank about half of it plain and then mixed in some orange juice. Just kind of tasted like watered-down orange juice, and considering where it came from, i was good with that! I should add that this method will work best at home when you are not looking to slam it back minutes before a workout at the gym. I have not determined the best method for this scenario yet. I was tempted to take off a star in support of 'truth in labeling' with this stuff. There should be some sort of mention how to neutralize the bitterness or that most people can not choke this stuff down.

The first thing I want to comment on is the taste. It has a chemical type taste that makes me think of ammonia. It was far from intolerable and I've tasted far worse. I was honestly expecting the most awful tasting concoction I had ever tasted in my life. Although the taste isn't pleasant, it's definitely tolerable. I never even need a chaser. Now the smell.... That's another story. I try not to breath when I open the container because it smells like sweaty gym socks that have been sitting in a locker for a week. As far as effects, it seems to be a little easier on my digestive system. I think it's because it has less sweetener and other additives like the brand I used to buy from a certain three letter supplement chain. That stuff tasted like Kool Aid and acted like a laxative. So far, this has treated my tummy much better. I stack it with NOW L-Citrulline powder. Works like a charm. Keeps the blood pressure low and has helped increase my vascularity. Definitely a must have sup on my extremely short list.

If you want an easy way to get serious and rapidly-absorbed amounts of this important amino acid into your frame, NOW's product can't be beaten. It's reasonably priced, supposedly pharmeceutical grade, and, in my experience, it works. I've been taking L-arginine for a couple of years and have had good results over time, with over-all improvements in vascularity, energy, recovery, etc., as mentioned elsewhere in these reviews. I also regularly use Optimum Nutrition's creatine monohydrate, BCAAs, and L-Glutamine products, and L-Arginine rounds out the bunch. L-Arginine in capsule form is waste of time and money, in my opinion, because of slow absorption. (I used to open up 5 or 6 caps and dump the contents into water or juice and drink it down - major inconvenience.) A couple of level teaspoons twice a day for me works very well. Both times I take on a empty stomach for better absorption. If I'm going to work out in the early a.m. and need to get jacked, I'll mix it with NO-Explode or with Gaspari's SuperPump 250 (the effect of this one-two combination on your body is intense, believe me). In fact the "buzz" (kind of a prickly feeling) from two teaspoons of L-Arginine alone that creeps up on you in about 20 - 30 minutes is very noticeable. Now for the downside: this product has a HIDEOUS "fishy" taste. Know that no matter what you mix this with, you cannot mask the taste - it's that powerful. (When you mix it with grape or some dark-red colored juice, the liquid turns an evil-looking, metallic green. Seriously.) Mixed with one of the Nitric Oxide supps (see above) the "flavor" is, shall we say, "challenging." I've settled into a routine of mixing it with Minute Maid pomegranate or Welch's grape juice, sometimes with creatine powder if it's in the a.m., and drinking it down without stopping. Then I *IMMEDIATELY* thoroughly brush my teeth because the taste coats your tongue and teeth and gums, and anything you eat or drink thereafter tastes awful. Particularly coffee. And God help you if you try to kiss anyone. That's why I'm giving this product 4 stars instead of 5. Taste issues aside, the benefits of L-Arginine as delivered in this product are, in my opinion, worth the money and the crappy taste. Therefore, I will continue to use this product as part of my overall training regimen. Addendum 09/06/2010 - After I wrote this review, I went back and re-examined how I was taking this supplement. I've stopped mixing it with juice and cut down my intake to once a day. Why? I've done more research on L-Arginine, and it seems glucose can interfere with absorption, and I'm not sure there's any real need for taking more than 2 teaspoons a day. Addendum 12/19/2014 - After a couple of years' hiatus, I'm back to taking this supplement once a day. Still tastes awful, but at my age - 64 (that's me at 63 with my son in my Profile picture) it still does the job.

We tried to return it. My husband has high blood pressure and wanted to try recommended high doses of L-Arginine in an effort to move from high prescription meds. This product is one of a few that offer the dosage level needed. After reading reviews the primary concern of other customers seemed to be the taste. He has a diverse palate and figured that “it couldn’t be that bad!” Long story, short…. It’s that bad! Its horrible flavor cannot to be masked with orange juice, protein powders, lemonade and other drink mixes. There are those that say “suck it up, you’ll be OK!” But he’s not ready to commit long-term to this taste, the after taste and the bad breath hours later. He described the flavor as “the rotting bones of dead things!” As an avid outdoorsman and hunter, I guess he’s witnessed this as a smell. In conclusion, if you can literally stomach the taste and smell, this might be an effective product. I recommend the company spend some time on flavor masking experimentation.

I just finished my third 1 lb container of NOW L-Arginine with no plans to stop. If you sort the reviews here based on product satisfaction other than the unanimous issue regarding "taste" and the occasional problem with shipment issues etc. this is a solid 100% rated 5 STAR product in terms of effectiveness. I realized this nine months ago when I first ordered NOW L-Arginine and figured it had to be very effective if so many people continued to faithfully use sometime that tasted so bad. I never tried mixing it with anything other than a few ounces of water, swirling and swallowing in one quick comfortable gulp (without inhaling any air) for a nearly tasteless experience other than a slight and almost pleasant after-taste of shrimp. I take two teaspoons every night before bed on an empty stomach. At first I added 1/4 teaspoon of NOW L-Citruline Powder but eventually stopped when I ran out and later read L-Citruline is converted by the body into L-Arginine anyway. After my second pound of L-Arginine I did not notice missing the effects of L-Citruline so I never reordered it again. If anyone besides me has experimented and compared L-Arginine with and without L-Citruline I would like to hear if your experience is any different than mine. Please comment here. I did not notice the L-Citruline made much of a difference in the benefits I was experiencing from L-Arginine. Eventually I started adding a teaspoon of L-Glutatmine Powder from Source Natural and noticed that this addition made the taste of L-Arginine even less of an issue. L-Glutamine is sweet but tasteless. And still later i started adding my nightly teaspoon of ProBiotics Sodium Ascorbate Powder (4500mg C) into the same two ounces of water with L-Arginine and L-Glutamine. I was surprised that adding additional supplement powders to L-Arginine further reduced any problem with taste. If you're sensitive to the taste I suggest you hold your nose when you swallow and don't breath when you rinse and clean you glass before swallowing a second time so as not to lose a bit of that good stuff that might otherwise be left behind in your glass. I originally researched and found that L-Arginine is effective at lowering blood pressure when my doctor noticed my blood pressure was slightly high. NOW L-Arginine has been effective at lowering my blood pressure and I was pleasantly surprised by its Viagra effect. I have never had a prescription to Viagra but have tried it a few times over the years and noticed the negative side effects as well as a benefit. But L-Arginine daily is more effective than Viagra because you can take it everyday of your life without the negative side effects and I think this makes it superior to any of the drugs intended for that purpose. The daily dosage cost of NOW L-Arginine is less than 25 cents a day; what a great bargain when you consider the expense and negative side effects of drugs to lower blood pressure and enhance sexual performance.

SO GOOD. Pumos are out of this world. if you have a low % body fat, this thing will make your veins pop like crazy. it tastes like ass so mix it with juice or bcaas.

This product is one of the cheapest, easiest ways to take in a solid dose of L-Arginine, but beware: It tastes AWFUL. It tasted like that awful smell when you walk into a alone where someone is getting a perm. Its like a chemical taste mixed with burnt hair. Really gross. My advice for those who buy this is that the easiest way to take it is to just mix it with a small amount of mater and chug it. If you mix this with a shake or smoothie, it will ruin the taste and you will have to drink this nastiness for the entire shake. Just down it, cringe, and get on with your day. Works pretty well and gives good results though.