NOW Foods Sports Nutrition, L-Arginine Powder, Nitric Oxide Precursor, Amino Acids, 2.2-Pound

So I have had this container of Arginine for a few weeks. And was looking forward to using it daily. Until I tasted it. Let me back up and say my previous experience with L-Arginine was a few years back when I worked at GNC they had a great Arginine powder in their Pro Performance line. And it was flavored and easy to take. When I saw this, I looked over the fact that it was unflavored. But I expected it to be 'not flavored'. My gosh was I surprised! So after some research, this is pure alkaline. The taste of this will be unbearable for most people. Trying to drink this straight in water or even in some sort of juice will be impossible for almost everyone.But there is hope! After some research, turns out that Citric Acid will be your saving grace here. I used what I have in the pic. Here is the recipe I used:10oz water2 level scoops L-Arginine powder1 to 2 tablespoons Citric Acid2 healthy squirts of lemon juice from a plastic lemonMix Arginine until it is totally dissolved. My water turned back to totally clear.Mix in almost all of the citric acid. Water will turn cloudy at first. After about 30 seconds of mixing, water will turn back to totally clear again. At this point, the Arginine should be neutralized.For good measure, I add in just a dash more citric acid and then the lemon juice and mix a little more.There is almost no discernable taste at all even after adding in the lemon. If you need to have it flavored, you could use a drink mix powder of some sort to help it out. I drank about half of it plain and then mixed in some orange juice. Just kind of tasted like watered-down orange juice, and considering where it came from, i was good with that!I should add that this method will work best at home when you are not looking to slam it back minutes before a workout at the gym. I have not determined the best method for this scenario yet.I was tempted to take off a star in support of 'truth in labeling' with this stuff. There should be some sort of mention how to neutralize the bitterness or that most people can not choke this stuff down.

I just finished my third 1 lb container of NOW L-Arginine with no plans to stop. If you sort the reviews here based on product satisfaction other than the unanimous issue regarding "taste" and the occasional problem with shipment issues etc. this is a solid 100% rated 5 STAR product in terms of effectiveness. I realized this nine months ago when I first ordered NOW L-Arginine and figured it had to be very effective if so many people continued to faithfully use sometime that tasted so bad. I never tried mixing it with anything other than a few ounces of water, swirling and swallowing in one quick comfortable gulp (without inhaling any air) for a nearly tasteless experience other than a slight and almost pleasant after-taste of shrimp.I take two teaspoons every night before bed on an empty stomach. At first I added 1/4 teaspoon of NOW L-Citruline Powder but eventually stopped when I ran out and later read L-Citruline is converted by the body into L-Arginine anyway. After my second pound of L-Arginine I did not notice missing the effects of L-Citruline so I never reordered it again. If anyone besides me has experimented and compared L-Arginine with and without L-Citruline I would like to hear if your experience is any different than mine. Please comment here. I did not notice the L-Citruline made much of a difference in the benefits I was experiencing from L-Arginine.Eventually I started adding a teaspoon of L-Glutatmine Powder from Source Natural and noticed that this addition made the taste of L-Arginine even less of an issue. L-Glutamine is sweet but tasteless. And still later i started adding my nightly teaspoon of ProBiotics Sodium Ascorbate Powder (4500mg C) into the same two ounces of water with L-Arginine and L-Glutamine. I was surprised that adding additional supplement powders to L-Arginine further reduced any problem with taste. If you're sensitive to the taste I suggest you hold your nose when you swallow and don't breath when you rinse and clean you glass before swallowing a second time so as not to lose a bit of that good stuff that might otherwise be left behind in your glass.I originally researched and found that L-Arginine is effective at lowering blood pressure when my doctor noticed my blood pressure was slightly high. NOW L-Arginine has been effective at lowering my blood pressure and I was pleasantly surprised by its Viagra effect. I have never had a prescription to Viagra but have tried it a few times over the years and noticed the negative side effects as well as a benefit. But L-Arginine daily is more effective than Viagra because you can take it everyday of your life without the negative side effects and I think this makes it superior to any of the drugs intended for that purpose. The daily dosage cost of NOW L-Arginine is less than 25 cents a day; what a great bargain when you consider the expense and negative side effects of drugs to lower blood pressure and enhance sexual performance.

We tried to return it. My husband has high blood pressure and wanted to try recommended high doses of L-Arginine in an effort to move from high prescription meds. This product is one of a few that offer the dosage level needed.After reading reviews the primary concern of other customers seemed to be the taste. He has a diverse palate and figured that “it couldn’t be that bad!”Long story, short…. It’s that bad!Its horrible flavor cannot to be masked with orange juice, protein powders, lemonade and other drink mixes. There are those that say “suck it up, you’ll be OK!” But he’s not ready to commit long-term to this taste, the after taste and the bad breath hours later.He described the flavor as “the rotting bones of dead things!” As an avid outdoorsman and hunter, I guess he’s witnessed this as a smell.In conclusion, if you can literally stomach the taste and smell, this might be an effective product.I recommend the company spend some time on flavor masking experimentation.