I recently spent some time skimming through the book _The
Arginine Solution_, (authors forgotten) and had a few thoughts
about it.

The scientific starting point of the book is the relatively
recent discovery that nitric oxide (NO) performs a number of very
important functions in the body, especially relating to vascular
health.  A Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded for these
discoveries in 1998.  NO helps to keep arteries clear and improve
cholesterol profiles.

The main source of NO in the body is dietary arginine.  ADNO thus
stands for arginine-derived nitric oxide.  There is research that
suggests that people in various stages of heart disease are
helped by arginine supplementation, at 3 or more grams per day.

The authors of the book don't have a lot to say about nutrition,
although they do mention that meats are generally high in
arginine.  Out of curiosity, I went to the USDA database and
checked a number of foods, paleo and non-paleo, to get an idea of
arginine content.  Here are the results, in grams of arginine per
100 grams of the food:

peanuts                 2.8
blanched almonds        2.6
sesame tahini           2.5
brazil nuts             2.4
walnuts                 2.1
sunflower seeds         2.0
chicken breast          1.9
hazel nuts              1.7
pork loin               1.7
beef (composite)        1.6
lamb                    1.5
sardines                1.5
wheat germ              1.4
salmon                  1.2
pecans                  1.1
macadamias              0.9
eggs                    0.8
black beans             0.6

I think that if one sorted by grams of arginine per 100 kcal
instead of per 100 grams the meats would be at the top of the
list, instead of seeds/nuts.

Incidentally, recent products to improve male erectile function,
such as "VasoRect", are just arginine supplements, with a bit of
calcium added as a co-factor.  I have sometimes heard radio ads
for these products, "based on Nobel Prize-winning science"; now I
know what they're about.

At any rate, a paleo diet rich in meats and nuts is naturally
rich in arginine, and thus a good way to get plenty of ADNO.

Todd Moody
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