Nitric Oxide benefits are proven (check out our full spiel here). While you can get access to nitric oxide supplements, its a smart idea to incorporate foods into your regular diet routine that are high in nitrates and promote continuous nitric oxide production in the body. Start with these 18 nitrate rich foods:
18. Dark Cocoa
Several studies have documented that cocoa, especially the raw kind, increases nitric oxide production and lowers blood pressure. There is also evidence of cacao healing the endolethium (the thin layer of cells that lines the interior surface of blood vessels) by increasing the amount of cells that repair it. The crucial part in choosing right kind of cacao is the quality. If possible you should always buy raw unprocessed kind, because the ones they sell on markets are so over-processed that they shouldn’t be even called chocolate anymore.
17. Watermelon
Watermelon contains a lot of the amino acid L-Citrulline that is one of the best natural compounds to increase nitric oxide, proven by countless of studies. Read this post to learn more about L-Citrulline and how it converts into nitric oxide in the body.
16. Pomegranate
If I would have to choose the best food for nitric oxide production and testosterone levels, it would be pomegranate. Pomegranate has been performing perfectly in every single study that it has been researched for, producing effects such as reducing arterial plaque thickness by 30% and increasing testosterone levels by 22% in peer reviewed studies.
15. Walnuts
Walnuts are packed with vitamin E, which helps you arteries and testosterone levels. Also it has been recently studied and proved to increase nitric oxide production and also to lower blood pressure, significantly. This is probably due to the high amounts of L-Arginine found in walnuts, which has been linked to an increase in nitric oxide production, more about L-Arginine here.
14. Spinach
Spinach is known to have one of the highest nitrate contents of all plants, which means that it’s a pretty awesome food to eat if you are looking to increase nitric oxide production. Learn more about nitrates in foods and how those convert into nitric oxide, here.
13. Oranges
Oranges and orange juice contains high amounts of vitamin C, which has been shown to protect your precious nitric oxide molecules from free radicals. So ideally there would be no point in increasing your nitric oxide levels without consuming vitamin C and antioxidants at the same time, because without the vitamin C, your beloved nitric oxide would just oxidize away before really doing anything in your body.
12. Beets
Beetroot is one of those foods that contain nitrates as explained here. The thing that really makes beets so amazing is the fact that it is one of those foods that has highest nitrate count in all of plants, and at the same time beets are capable to lower your estrogen levels by acting as a methylate, as explained here.
11. Cranberries
There are countless of health benefits that link back to cranberries. Possibly one of the less known ones is the fact that cranberries increase nitric oxide production, while lowering blood pressure significantly at the same time. This was found out by a study conducted back in the year 2000.
10. Garlic
Researchers say that garlic is a potent activator of NOS (nitric oxide synthase), and produces same kind of effects as Cialis or Viagra. In one study it was noted that garlic decreased systolic and diastolic blood pressure by 8 points on subjects with high blood pressure. That’s a very impressive result from a food, as it shows to be working even better than most of the high blood pressure medications.
9. Black tea
contains caffeine, which acts as a vasoconstrictor, and that’s the main reason why black tea is not something you usually see on a list of foods that increase nitric oxide. But despite black teas caffeine content, it still has some major vasodilation effects. Many studies claim that black tea significantly increases nitric oxide production and lessens the arterial stiffness. On top of that there is this study done back in 2009 which claims that more black tea = more blood flow.
8. Cayenne pepper
contains high amount of capsaicin, the compound that makes all chili’s hot. One study noted that capsaicin has a dose dependent effect, meaning that more the subjects consumed capsaicin, the more their nitric oxide levels increased and arteries relaxed.
7. Honey
One animal study claims that honey significantly increases nitric oxide production. Either the high enzyme content probably causes this, or the high nitrate content that honey has.
6. Pistachios
Like almost all nuts, pistachios are also packed with L-Arginine, a precursor of nitric oxide that is known for its ability to increase nitric oxide production significantly.
5. Salmon
Wild salmon is a very good source of co-enzyme Q10, enzyme that can be spotted on moisturizer adds for women. Co-enzyme Q10 is not only great for soothing wrinkles; it’s also a very good nitric oxide booster as it has been shown in dozens of studies to increase nitric oxide production significantly.
4. Kale
Kale is also a very good source of co-enzyme Q10 that boosts nitric oxide. Kale also has very high nitrate content, which makes it very good nitric oxide booster. There are also many other health benefits linked to kale, such as increased testosterone levels and improved arterial health.
3. Animal Organs
One of the greatest foods that every man should be consuming are foods like animal liver. The organs contain high amounts of cholesterol and healthy fat-soluble vitamins that boost your testosterone levels. Those organs are also very good source for co-enzyme Q10 that increases nitric oxide levels, so it’s a win-win situation if you eat organs!
2. Onions
Onions are not only good for your testosterone levels, as they have been shown to increase nitric oxide production in 2 different studies. They are also a very good source of vitamin C, which as explained above protects your nitric oxide molecule from free radicals. Onions also contain a compound called Quercetin, explained briefly here. Quercetin is well known for its ability to boost nitric oxide levels.
1. Shrimp:
One of the best sources of dietary L-Arginine, as mentioned above L-Arginine is an amino acid and precursor of nitric oxide. By consuming shrimps you are essentially increasing the amount of L-Arginine in your body which then converts into nitric oxide.