Dietary Supplement May Harm Heart Patients
(Reuters, Chicago, Jan. 3, 2006 )

Dr. Steven Schulman of Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, and team, studied 153 heart attack patients with persisting heart disease symptoms. The investigators assigned some of the subjects to take L-arginine and the rest, a placebo. The researchers report that participants taking the supplement showed no improvement in vascular stiffness or the heart's ability to pump blood; furthermore, the study had to be shut down after six months because six volunteers taking L-arginine died. These results suggest that heart attack patients should avoid L- arginine.