Agmatine is one of the 3 most common nitric oxide supplments (the other two are arginine and citrulline).
More and more often these days you’ll see it “popping up” in the formulas of your favorite products. For example, you may have seen agmatine included in some of the newer preworkout and strength promoting nitric oxide supplements – along with claims about how well it works for skin-tearing pumps, super-intense workouts and all the usual over-the-top nonsense we’re used to seeing in sport supplement advertising.
But what is agmatine exactly, and what potential applications does it have for body building or strength performance?
Those are good questions.
So let’s talk about agamatine – what do we know about it, does it work, should you try it and so on.
What is Agmatine?
Agamatine is a metabolite of arginine – its technical name is decarbolyzed arginine – and a promising and interesting compound, although there is very little clinical data on it.
What do we know about so far, as far as its use a sports performance and pump product? Well, here are the…
4 Things You Need to Know about Agmatine
1) There is no clinical evidence either to support or disprove agmatine’s use a BB or sports performance supplement.
Zero. Zip. Nien. Nyet. Nada. Nothing.
So all these various claims that you’re seeing about its incredible performance enhancing abiities are essentially being pulled out “thin air.”
The fact is that agamine may provide to be a great supplement for body builders or may not, but as of right now, we really don’t know.
2) There is research (see here and here) that suggests that agmatine has a NO-boosting vasodilating effect but these animal studies or ex-vivo / in-vitro laboratory studies, not human based studies.
How it works isn’t entirely clear yet, although it may stimulate the expression of one of the enzymes (eNOS) required for the body to make more NO.
3) Agmatine is not a nitric oxide precursor like I have seen argued in a few placed online. In other words, it does not appear to work in a smiliar manner to arginine, despite being an arginine metabolite.
In fact, it appears to be a mild inhibitor of NOSs – the family on enzymes required to convert arginine into NO.
4) It’s non-toxic and appears to be safe, and can be justified under DSHEA and most supplement laws.
And essentially, that’s a big picture overview on what know about agamatine when it comes to its use as a body building supplement.
Not a lot, is it?
A Couple of Quick Comments
Absence of evidence isn’t the same as evidence of absence.”
In other words, even if there’s no evidence to support its use as a “pump” or sports performance product, it may nonetheless have some health/wellness value; for instance there is one small study on its use for major depressive disorder.
Another animal study suggests possible weight loss effects!
Additionally, anecdotal evidence – and by anecdotal I mean “word of mouth” commentary – suggests that most (although definitely not all) users think it does work as advertised.
Agmatine; The Bottom Line
So what’s the bottom line on agmatine at this point?
Its use as a sports performance is entirely based on anecdotal evidence.
If you like the pump and it works for you, great!
Just as long as you understand that there’s no established science behind the claims made for it.
A stronger argument can definitely made for the use of arginine or citrulline as a nitric oxide supplement, if you’re more interested in using products that have some supporting science behind them.
Personally, this is where I’m sticking… as I don’t find the agmatine pump to be as pronounced as the one I get from either arginine or citrulline.
But maybe you feel differently?
If you’ve used agmatine or a product containing it, please share you experience and leave your comments below – I know I’d love to hear them as would our viewers.
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