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Health News Archive 396 - Chronic Heart Failure
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L-Arginine Enhances Endurance Exercise Tolerance in Heart Failure Patients

Heart failure patients who consume supplements of the amino acid L-arginine experience enhanced exercise endurance, according to French researchers.

The researchers set out to determine whether six weeks of oral L-arginine supplementation could affect endurance exercise performance, an important determinant of daily-life activity, in chronic stable heart failure (CHF) subjects.

After an initial incremental maximal exercise test, heart failure patients performed an identical thirty-minute interval endurance exercise test before and after six weeks’ supplementation with L-arginine or without L-arginine (control group).

The results indicated that mean heart rate decreased throughout exercise and recovery after supplementation with L-arginine. Systemic blood pressure and respiratory parameters remained unchanged. Exercise-induced peak increase in plasma lactate also was blunted in the subjects taking L-arginine. Lactate is produced in muscles during exercise and is responsible for the muscle soreness that occurs after intense activity. No significant changes were observed in the control group.

The researchers concluded, “In heart failure patients, six weeks’ oral L-arginine supplementation enhances endurance exercise tolerance, reducing both heart rate and circulating lactates. This suggests that chronic L-arginine supplementation might be useful as a therapeutic adjuvant in order to improve the patient's physical fitness.”

Source: Doutreleau S, Mettauer B, Piquard F, Rouyer O, Schaefer A, Lonsdorfer J, Geny B. Chronic L-arginine supplementation enhances endurance exercise tolerance in heart failure patients. Int J Sports Med. 2006 Jul;27(7):567-72.