Improving health, improving fun in strip clubs

Casualguy, I've read about those substances fairly recently too, but I don't remember where. It could have been in "Men's Health" or "Men's Fitness" magazines, both of which often discuss supplements. You can probably search both on-line. It could also have been in a book that I recently read called "Younger Next Year" which had some discussion on supplements. Most likely it was in another recent book called "You The Owner's Manual" which had a lot of discussion on supplements. Both of these books have spawned web sites (youngernextyear.com and realage.com) where you can post questions like the ones you've asked. Let me know what you find out.

Count me among those who believe that supplements are essential to good health. Yes you can get everything you need from food, but you'd have to eat so much to do so that you'd have to do physical labor all day long to keep from gaining weight. Supplements are essential because most of us (1) don't get as much exercise as did our ancestors and (2) we eat too much processed food and a lot of the essential ingredients are removed by the processing. The human body wasn't meant to sit at a desk all day and eat processed food so we have to make adjustments, like supplements. But you already know that.

I thought I read it in a litte blurb in a Bottom Line article. I haven't been on my home pc for the past 3 days. Seemed like a long time. I think I'm getting more interested in playing with stocks than I am in checking up on my health. I bought one stock and then sold it a couple of days later for a nice return. It's all in my retirement money though so I don't have it available for spending cash. I wanted to make up for a small drop I had in one stock. I didn't expect to do all that in 3 days. I'm taking some supplements and I think they are making me feel better. Making money in the stock market in only 3 days makes me feel even better though. It would be enough for me to have a fun night out but it's not that much. Now if I had used options. I need to study the game a little bit more.

Casualguy, the problem I have with short term investing (which is an oxymoron if there ever was one) is that you are no longer betting on a business's performance, you're betting against other short term investors, many of whom have insider information. In other words it's a loser's game - long term investing is win-win, short term investing is win-lose. When I retired the first time I toyed with the idea of becoming a financial advisor and took the series 7 exam (and got a 93% on it.) I wouldn't touch things like options unless you plan on making studying the stock market a full time job. That's who you'll be betting against.

I found the article. It was a Bottom Line Health advertisement article with the Title Nobel Prize Winner's Breakthrough Prevents Heart Attack and Stroke, Relieves Impotence" What I found interesing was that the article claims the discovery won the Nobel Prize in medicine and the claims were

1. lowers cholesterol by 10 to 20 percent
2. reduces arterial plaque by as much as 50 percent
3. and 4. expand blood vessels reducing blood pressure and controls platelet function so you're less likely to get blood clots

Then the article states you can take 2 supplements available at any health food store (I wonder if that's true though). They are L-arginine and L-citrulline and the article goes on to say these supplements have been proven effective in numerous studies.

Maybe not enough studies have been done to prove it or not enough people care to make money on it if it's using natural substances to promote it. It makes me wonder though especially when I did an internet search and found articles supporting it. Seems like someone would be selling a vitamin supplement just for that. Maybe they are. The article starts off by saying if you're an American over 40, you have a 50% chance of having a heart attack or stroke one day. I may try to find the stuff and take it and try it out. Sounds like it could enhance the strip club experience by increasing the levels of nitric oxide which improves erections. I have to wonder if it really works that great, why isn't the medical community jumping on it to promote it. Is it too new and revolutionary or just a dead end money maker because they can't sell drugs for natural substances?

I guess the formula may be questionable since I did some checking on it and apparently only studies on mice were done and not humans. However I have been taking some L-arginine for a few weeks to try it out. I have to say I am getting hornier recently than I have in a while. I did read some studies that indicated some people thought their cholesterol and/or blood pressure was lower. Actually I think I read someone thought their blood pressure dropped after taking Hawthorne for a few weeks. Apparently these more natural substances may take at least a few weeks to be noticeable. Of course they can't claim to do these things or they would be labeled drugs and the manufacturers would be shut down for selling drugs not approved by the FDA. It would be nice if a supplement company did a controlled study on the effects of L-Arginine and L-citrulline. Apparently the body builders already know about those two since I read they have a much faster recovery after working out and were driving up the price especially for the L-citrulline. You would think there would be a lot more research on things like this with 50 percent of Americans dying from heart disease or clogged arteries/ and or heart attacks if it could improve the quality of life for everyone. Oh well, I guess the drug companies will keep selling their drugs and tell everyone, just take what I prescribe and see me in a week or two. I'd rather not see any doctor nor ever need to.

To sum up, it does appear that nitric oxide is beneficial for everyone especially as they get older. I read you can get some naturally in certain foods and by exercising and eating a low fat diet. You won't get as much as found in supplements though. I doubt a young person in their 20's or younger would see any benefit from it though.

"You would think there would be a lot more research on things like this with 50 percent of Americans dying from heart disease or clogged arteries/ and or heart attacks ..." Unfortunately government research dollars are not spent in proportion to the severity of the threat. Some diseases are favored for political reasons and get a disproportionate share. Which of course leaves less for other diseases.

Maybe I should apply for a government grant in order to study the potential positive effects that strip clubbing can have on guys. That would certainly improve MY health if my strip clubbing were to get subsidized by the government!

OK so what's the formula? How much L-Argnine and how much L-Citrinine a day? And do you have to add anything else?

In general, what supplements do you guys take? I just take a regular multi-vitamin (and I often forget to take that!). I've been studying for standardized testing and have decided I need some "brain food" so I've been trying to get more fresh fish. Anything I can do with my pill intake to improve on things? My goals would be, better general health, a bit of a energy stimulant (but some of those make me really jittery and distractable, to the point of reducing my concentration), some short-term memory boost, maybe other brain-function improvement, and weight loss / energy gain.

Your thoughts?

I don't think these supplements can legally make claims here because then these substances would have to be labeled drugs and then that would make the manufacturers be illegal drug producers without getting FDA approval first.

I'll try to briefly summarize what I found and believe. These natural substance seem to take 1 to 2 months on average to start having an effect since they are natural and not drugs that kick in like aspirin. Anyway if you're not young in your teens or 20's with an abundance of these natural substances, I believe they may have a beneficial effect. The original story I posted about L-Arginine and L-Citrulline. Here's a story on it. mlmwatch.org

and a link to his book verywellsaid.com

Apparently a guy who "shared the 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his research concerning nitric oxide as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system" linked up for money with a company selling a somewhat rather expensive product. He claims the study was done prior to his linking up with the company but the results were published after he linked up with the company and the study wasn't done on humans. The link provides the ingredients. It sounds like a rather expensive product from the company he linked up with. I found the same ingredients minus the lemon flavoring cheaper via other sources. Some can easily be found in a Men's multi-vitamin. Other supplements can easily be found in a Walmart much cheaper. Last night I did a quick search and found info at this website with a number of positive reviews and claims by the reviewers (a sneaky way of getting away with a manufacturer not making any claims) at this site. vitacost.com If you find out anything new or experiment. Please let us know what you think. Whether it was a waste of money or you think it helps. Maybe the effects are minor but positive and take a few weeks to really kick in.

As a little side note, I bought another supplement from Walmart and just checked my blood pressure at my mothers house. It dropped from the normal 116 on the top side to 108 after sitting down for a few minutes. That's a little bit lower than normal for me and I haven't been doing any regular exercise for the last month. I haven't been even been doing much walking except as needed for work or to run errands at Walmart etc. I know some people walk 2 to 3 miles just to get the exercise. I'm wondering if Hawthorne really does lower blood pressure. I don't think I need to get mine much lower though.

As a cautionary note, I read people should not take L-Arginine if they expect to be undergoing surgury or have a problem with bleeding. I believe something in it may reduce the tendency for blood to clot which would increase the amount you might bleed. I think it helps the body produce nitric oxide which we all know also helps with erections and that would boost the strip club experience naturally without any drugs.

I thought I read somewhere that looking at female breasts also had a positive health effect. I wonder if the government needs some volunteers for a control group. I could be in the control group for watching and feeling breasts versus the only watching group. Maybe I might be in the control group taking L-Arginine, L-Citrulline, and watching female breasts. Sounds like a plan. Just need someone to get government approval and a plan. I'm thinking the drug companies aren't going to do any studies to help sell natural products. Heart disease kills half the American population and we're left with little stories and no controlled human studies on natural products. I think it's a shame.

Maybe some companies that sell Men's products might be interested. They could do a study and if it produced positive results, they could sell the product like the mlmwatch.org company is doing but market it based on valid controlled human studies. I'm rambling and speculating.

In answer to the "why don't companies do tests ..." questions, these kinds of tests are very expensive to run and these kinds of natural products don't usually offer any patent protection. So if company A spends the money to run the tests, company B will step in and sell the product cheaper, since they don't have to recover the costs of testing. It usually isn't worth it to run expensive tests unless there's patent protection.