So I've been hearing quite a bit about this supplement lately, as well as seein it touted at better that Arginine and the "holy grail" etc. below is a list of so called benefits. So is this a bunch of crap or is there something to it?
1. Agmatine is a pain fighter. This can be beneficial to the athlete in two ways:
It can potentiate the effects of analgesics used during recuperation from injury.
It has the potential to aid post-workout recovery.
Agmatine enhances insulin production leading to better insulin response. This allows for positive effects in attaining body composition goals. Better insulin response means a harder and leaner more muscular body.
2. Agmatine acts on various hypothalamic and pituitary peptide hormones such as LH and GH. These will have subsequent effects on other hormones like IGF-1. Control of the hormonal environment of the athlete and you will perform better, look better and feel better.
3. Agmatine possesses anxiolytic (relieves anxiety) and antidepressant properties offering potential control of cortisol levels in the stressful life of the athlete.
4. Agmatine modulates nitric oxide (NO) through different ways. It stimulates some types of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) while inhibiting others. This is essential to the proper functioning of the polyamine biosynthetic pathways.
5. Agmatine acts on catecholamine (Epinephrine > Norepinephrine > Dopamine) release. These endogenous compounds are part of nearly every action in the body. Most notably for the athlete is the role that this compound would ultimately have in both energy production and aiding anticipation of the stress afforded by competition. However, there are also well-established roles that epinephrine can have on the body that includes:
Increasing endurance
Enhancing performance
Decreasing body fat
6. Agmatine has an antioxidant role. There can be no greater source of free-radical build up than that seen in the day-to-day activity of the athlete. The sheer stress that the body takes on when in you're an athlete in the trenches (i.e. - the gym, the field, etc...) could ultimately have significant detrimental effects with continued build up. Agmatine can offer protection from the undesired effects that free radicals can have on the body.
7. For the athlete desiring body composition change, Agmatine has an independent role of insulin and testosterone management on lipid (fat) metabolism.
Agmatine possesses nootropic effects (it acts as a "novel" neurotransmitter). This can offer the athlete a potential mental edge to prepare for various events.
8. Agmatine can aid in kidney function by stimulating the glomerular filtration rate (GFR). This can bode the bodybuilder well as various nitrogenous waste products are removed through this system.
9. Agmatine harbors a hypotensive role which could assist the exogenously-enhanced athlete in keeping blood pressure in check.
10. Agmatine has a neuroprotective role. The life extensionist will likely see this as a positive effect in cases of such chronic diseases as Alzheimer's Dementia. This is thought to originate through a couple of mechanisms, but most notably its prevention of over-excitation by glutamate and its antioxidant roles.
11. Agmatine can assist in chronic pain management. Sufferers of things such as chronic degenerative diseases that do not get adequate relief from various pharmaceutical analgesic agents may see agmatine as the ideal adjunct to their current treatment.
12. Agmatine's antioxidant role has significant impact on one of the unifying themes of aging in oxidative stress accumulation and its contribution to the aging individual.
13. Agmatine may possess a role in cancer prevention via its modulation of all polyamine biosynthetic pathways. This effect may be limited to vascular growths via smooth muscle cell overgrowth. Control of cell growth can be attributed to two different pathways:
A membrane receptor controlled pathway
A pathway dependent on cellular polyamine content
As mentioned earlier, agmatine imparts action on various hypothalamic and pituitary peptide hormones such as LH and GH. Control of the hormonal environment of the anti-aging medicine enthusiast can point rather quickly at the positive effects this can have.
13. Agmatine can aid in kidney function by stimulating the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) which can positively impact those suffering from chronic kidney diseases.
14. Agmatine enhances insulin production leading to better insulin response. As we grow older this impacts glycation. Glycation is the process where sugars attach to blood proteins and results in a complex series of rearrangements and oxidative reactions leading to advanced glycation end-products (AGEs).
It is this complex series of events that agmatine hits at its core and could prove synergistic with other molecules (i.e. - carnosine) in our fight to remain young.
15. Agmatine's hypotensive role has implications here as our continued assurance of fending off the cardiovascular sequelae that offer the deleterious effects of metabolic derangements such as the virtually epidemic diabetes and obesity run rampant.
Quite a bit, I know. But fact or fiction on a lot of these. I'm kind of in basic research stages at the moment
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Originally Posted by OnTheSauce
