L-arginine
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
"L-arginine therapy should not be given to patients following a myocardial infarction," a study in the Jan. 4 Journal of the American Medical Association concludes. Adding the supplement to standard post-MI drug therapy "did not reduce noninvasive measures of vascular stiffness, improve ejection fraction, or improve clinical outcomes," Steven Schulman, MD, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, et al., state. "We noted a possible increased risk of death in older patients after infarction while taking L-arginine compared with those taking a placebo." The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was terminated early after the deaths of six patients in the L-arginine group. Increased risk of death in older patients may be due to age-related cardiovascular changes, such as endothelial dysfunction, the authors note...