For the last 18 months or so NBT Scientific Director Megan Hall has been holding weekly Office Hours sessions on Zoom. It’s a chance for our clients and Patreon supporters to ask questions about just about anything related to improving health and performance and get answers based on the scientific literature. This has become such a valuable resource for the NBT community that I wanted to share just a taste of it on the podcast today.

Today you can listen in on one of Megan’s recent Office Hours sessions. First, she discusses ways to increase the body’s nitric oxide (NO) production, including the best foods and the supplements arginine and citrulline. NO’s most important function is vasodilation, meaning it relaxes the inner muscles of the blood vessels, causing them to widen and increase circulation. Later she talks about natural ways to keep mosquitos away, including her favourite non-toxic insect repellant and other lesser-known strategies for staying bug-bite free.

Here’s the outline of this interview with Megan Hall:

[00:00:01] Podcast: Why Cholesterol Levels Have No Effect on Cardiovascular Disease (And Things to Think about Instead), with Malcolm Kendrick.

[00:00:13] Podcast: The Pleiotropic Effects of Sunlight, with Megan Hall.

[00:01:53] Nitric oxide precursor: L-citrulline.

[00:03:02] Study: Tsuboi, Tomoe, Morihiko Maeda, and Toshio Hayashi. "Administration of L-arginine plus L-citrulline or L-citrulline alone successfully retarded endothelial senescence." PloS one 13.2 (2018): e0192252.

[00:04:15] Figure 1 from Study: Figueroa, Arturo, et al. "Influence of L-citrulline and watermelon supplementation on vascular function and exercise performance." Current opinion in clinical nutrition and metabolic care 20.1 (2017): 92-98.

[00:06:24] L-citrulline may reduce blood pressure in hypertensive individuals; Studies: 1. Kapil, Vikas, et al. "Inorganic nitrate supplementation lowers blood pressure in humans: role for nitrite-derived NO." Hypertension 56.2 (2010): 274-281; 2. Bonilla Ocampo, Diego A., et al. "Dietary nitrate from beetroot juice for hypertension: A systematic review." Biomolecules 8.4 (2018): 134.

[00:06:29] L-citrulline may help with erectile dysfunction; Study: Cormio, Luigi, et al. "Oral L-citrulline supplementation improves erection hardness in men with mild erectile dysfunction." Urology 77.1 (2011): 119-122.

[00:07:52] Dosing L-citrulline.

[00:08:34] Concentrated nitrate supplements and foods.

[00:10:12] Supplementing L-citrulline; Allergy Research Group L-Citrulline powder.

[00:10:58] Eat more watermelon, dark chocolate, and beetroot; Studies: Bonilla Ocampo, Diego A., et al. "Dietary nitrate from beetroot juice for hypertension: A systematic review." Biomolecules 8.4 (2018): 134; 2. Sudarma, Verawati, Sri Sukmaniah, and Parlindungan Siregar. "Effect of dark chocolate on nitric oxide serum levels and blood pressure in prehypertension subjects." Acta Med Indones 43.4 (2011): 224-8; 3. Faridi, Zubaida, et al. "Acute dark chocolate and cocoa ingestion and endothelial function: a randomized controlled crossover trial." The American journal of clinical nutrition 88.1 (2008): 58-63; 4. Ried, K., P. Fakler, and N. P. Stocks. "Cochrane Hypertension Group National Institute of Integrative Medicine. Effect of cocoa on blood pressure." Cochrane Database Syst Rev (2017).

[00:11:30] Natural ways to keep mosquitos away.

[00:11:51] Blog post: 12 Mosquito Repellant Plants.

[00:12:09] Yellow light bulbs.

[00:12:40] Nature Spray (nontoxic natural mosquito repellent).

[00:13:20] Citronella Candles.