:: You know what is Arginine? Citrulline?

Arginine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arginine

Citrulline

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citrulline

it came to my attention that a friend of mine is taking a supplement called "nightwork" by herbalife. it is a supplement under scrutiny in this site http://www.mlmwatch.org/04C/Herbalife/niteworks.html

and being criticized as being crappy and definately over priced here http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/health-fitness-corner-48/does-herbalife-really-works-3450114.html

it was then later found to have some positive effects here (which is quite interesting)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20331847

however, being a MLM product, it is a product "engineered" to sell in a "closed" pyramid structure to turnover high profit for those in the high tier.

so what is it that is so special that you cant get from eating normal food? WRONG, it is everywhere in the food that we eat (or dont like to eat)

"each dose of which contains 500 mg of vitamin C, 200 international units of vitamin E, 400 micrograms of folic acid, 50 mg of lemon balm extract, 10 mg of alpha lipoic acid, 300 mg of l-taurine, and 5.2 grams of a proprietary blend of l-arginine and l-citrulline [3]"

actually you can get it from eating normal food, it is right there in your cabinet and fridge.

watermelon = a nice citrulline supply

approx 3g/kg (red flesh)

approx 9g/kg (yellow flesh)

these are ball park mean figures, in actual lab tests, the content is a fluctuation (consider upper and lower fluctuations from 25% of mean to 125% of mean) due to the numerous varieties of melons, not to mention even countries of produce.

so a typical 5kg red flesh water melon from market costing about S$5-8, when cut into 1/8. each 1/8 portion will give about 1.9g of citrulline.

peanut butter = a nice arginine supply

approx 120g spread will give you 5g of arginine (add bread of your desire, divide into 3 meals? would you dare to try eating this way? maybe with some variety of jams?)

1 tub of 510g skippy at our local market S$5

in chinese medicine, they would describe peanut butter is a heaty food, and watermelon a cooling food. exactly how is this "thermal" science being balance i do not know, but now we do know these 2 if taken together is going to be leaving you somewhere in the "middle". there was actually some discussion in some forums about the yin/yang of food effects. too deep for me, but i think balancing/neutralizing heaty and cooling is enough for now.

this seems to be an interesting way to boost arginine/citrulline intake. add some carrot / orange juice. maybe by taking away some meat from the diet, you could also lose some weigh. (if you see below, i dont understand why USDA use 5gram sample size for eggs, it is so odd, a normal farm egg is about 40-60grams)

U.S. Department of Agriculture
	serving grams	LYS mg	ARG mg (Arginine)	% LYS	% ARG	serving grams for 5000mg ARG
Pine nuts	28	256	1330	9.143%	47.500%	105.26
Peanut butter	15	176	613	11.733%	40.867%	122.35	Planters / skippy / etc	510g @ S$5?
Pumpkin seeds & squash	140	2530	5570	18.071%	39.786%	125.67
Peanuts	144	1450	5050	10.069%	35.069%	142.57
Sesame seeds	150	1240	4990	8.267%	33.267%	150.30
Whole Egg, dried	5	155	147	31.000%	29.400%	170.07	seng choon pack of 10	480g @ S$3?
Tahini	15	82	378	5.467%	25.200%	198.41
Walnuts	100	466	2520	4.660%	25.200%	198.41
Almonds	142	946	3540	6.662%	24.930%	200.56
Snails	85	1250	2100	14.706%	24.706%	202.38
Brazil nuts	140	757	3350	5.407%	23.929%	208.96
Pistachios, shelled	128	1640	2790	12.813%	21.797%	229.39
Beef, dried	28	673	557	24.036%	19.893%	251.35
Hickory nuts	15	70	298	4.667%	19.867%	251.68
Hazelnuts	135	459	2480	3.400%	18.370%	272.18
Shrimp	85	1500	1510	17.647%	17.765%	281.46
Tuna, in water	165	4480	2920	27.152%	17.697%	282.53
Anchovy, in oit, drained	20	531	346	26.550%	17.300%	289.02
Turkey, canned boned	142	3040	2360	21.408%	16.620%	300.85
Crab	85	1350	1360	15.882%	16.000%	312.50
Caviar, black and red	16	293	254	18.313%	15.875%	314.96
Parmesan Cheese, grated	5	192	77	38.400%	15.400%	324.68
Turkey, light meat	180	3540	2740	19.667%	15.222%	328.47
Salami, hard	10	182	152	18.200%	15.200%	328.95
Sardines, in oil, drained	24	542	354	22.583%	14.750%	338.98
Wild pheasant	371	7470	5240	20.135%	14.124%	354.01
Chicken, light meat w/o s	88	1730	1230	19.659%	13.977%	357.72
Beef smoked, chopped	28	467	386	16.679%	13.786%	362.69
Chicken canned, boned	142	2500	1920	17.606%	13.521%	369.79
Plum	5.5	90	74	16.364%	13.455%	371.62
Parmesan Cheese	28	937	373	33.464%	13.321%	375.34

and somewhere in the lower set of the table, the water melon

Chicken noodle soup	241	219	166	0.909%	0.689%	7259.04
Cabbage, common	70	40	48	0.571%	0.686%	7291.67
Cream of chicken soup	244	215	166	0.881%	0.680%	7349.40
Dates	83	50	55	0.602%	0.663%	7545.45
Cream of wheat	251	98	166	0.390%	0.661%	7560.24
Turkey noodle soup	244	212	159	0.869%	0.652%	7672.96
Endive	50	32	32	0.640%	0.640%	7812.50
Oatmeal	234	78	147	0.333%	0.628%	7959.18
Eggplant	82	42	50	0.512%	0.610%	8200.00
Watermelon	160	99	94	0.619%	0.588%	8510.64	2.4mg/g of citrulline
Beet greens	38	20	20	0.526%	0.526%	9500.00
Chicken gumbo	244	161	122	0.660%	0.500%	10000.00
Squash, summer	130	85	65	0.654%	0.500%	10000.00
Grapes, adherent skin	160	24	78	0.150%	0.488%	10256.41
Orange	180	62	85	0.344%	0.472%	10588.24
Orange juice	248	22	117	0.089%	0.472%	10598.29
Corn grits	242	68	114	0.281%	0.471%	10614.04
Grape juice	253	25	119	0.099%	0.470%	10630.25

so why buy USD90 worth of supplements, when it is all there at the local market?

i guess alot of people just dont know, they make these pills and market them as miracles. but you are really just "eating" food squeezed into a button, which is much more tastier when it is not squeezed (and freshly cut, in the case of melons)

USD90 is alot of bread, peanut butter, ham/cheese and water melons !

and for water melons, some say its just a fruit, why the varieties. read this
http://www.knownyou.com/en_index.jsp?bodyinclude=PRODUCTCLASS&classid=9C8B16EC5695090B8AB8E3428C1AEBDBC001

his nick name is watermelon king, FYI watermelon may have a VIAGRA effect, the partial chemicals in VIAGRA is also found in water melons (a citrulline of some sort? but for melons, it is not engineered to facilitate a certain part of the body, it helps "relax" your entire body). over eating water melons can lead to a "high" (actually low blood pressure), that can be life threatening for some.

Generally, tetrapak has been used for many years to move
liquid food. but if the mode of transport is not cooled properly.
the consumer will not know if an opened pak will actually have
a shorter shelf life. i have blacklisted sheng shiong supermarket
for this flaw. how do i know? i consume 100s of paks per year,
you will be sensitive to who sells what in a proper manner.

this is what a 45gram blob of peanut butter looks like. dont save it, serve it
generously this hill will give you about 2.13g of arginine ! comparatively, to
get it with a slab of beef, it will have to be about 160gram. or 1.5 whole eggs.

for someone who have not eaten much watermelon for a number of years, 600grams of water melon have a very interesting effect.