What is L-Citrulline?
L-citrulline is an amino acid normally made by the body.
The body converts L-citrulline to L-arginine which is another type of amino acid.
L-citrulline is used for Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, fatigue, muscle weakness, sickle cell disease, erectile dysfunction, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
It is used for bodybuilding, increasing energy, heart disease, and improving athletic performance.
Types of Citrulline
If you are not aware then there are 2 types of citrulline:
- One is only Citrulline.
- Another one is Citrulline Malate.
Most of the people get confused that what they should take, Citrulline or Citrulline Malate?
So we will be going to discuss in this article.
Actually guys Two Supplements comes under this word Citrulline Malate i.e. Citrulline and Malate.
That means Citrulline + Malate = Citrulline Malate
First for all we will cover about Citrulline.
Function of Citrulline
The main function of Citrulline is to provide vasodilation.
Vasodilation means widening of veins or blood vessels. Your blood vessels gets widen when there is production of nitric oxide.
Arginine is responsible for the production of Nitric Oxide i.e. NO.
But studies and researches have suggested that if you directly consume Arginine then it is ineffective because absorption of arginine by the body is very poor.
That’s why we need Citrulline because Citrulline is actually precursor of Arginine.
This defines that when you consume Citrulline, 80 percent of it gets converted into Arginine.
After that Arginine gets converted into Nitric Oxide and you get the functionality of vasodilation.
In short, if you directly consume Arginine then that is actually an ineffective way.
This means you are doing nothing but just wasting your money by buying Arginine instead of Citrulline because of its bad absorption in the body.
So use Citrulline as it has excellent absorption in the body.
Benefits
There are many benefits of Citrulline but from the bodybuilding point of view there are mainly 2 benefits.
- Because of using citrulline your blood vessels get widen and as a result blood flow gets increased and this results in fast delivery of nutrients to the muscles. As we know that whatever food we consume, its nutrients travel through the blood vessels so citrulline helps in the fast delivery of nutrients to the muscle.
- Fast delivery of nutrients means the fast recovery of muscles after an intense workout. that’s why most people take it as pre-workout.
How Can You Get L-Citrulline in Your Diet?
- Watermelon is one of the best food sources of L-citrulline.
- Legumes, meat, and nuts also contain the amino acid. But most people use supplements to increase the amount of L-citrulline in their diets.
So guys this was all about citrulline in a nutshell and I tried to explain it in layman language.
Now we will move forward and discuss about Malate.
Functions of Malate
There are mainly 2 functions of malate.
- It increases the storage of creatine phosphate in your body and as a result, your energy level increases. You will be able to lift heavy and your workout performance increases.
- It buffers lactic acid production in your body. That means the formation of lactic acid in your muscles will be delayed and you will be able to work out for a longer duration.
But the secret is that you can get these same functions of Malate by using a cheap and effective supplement i.e. Creatine.
So that means if you are already on creatine supplementation then you don’t need Malate and you can use the only citrulline as pre-workout.
Dosage of Citrulline
You should consume 6gms of citrulline or L-Citrulline in a day.
You can divide the dose into 3 parts i.e.
- 2 gms first thing in the morning (empty stomach).
- 2 grams pre-workout and 2 grams post-workout.
if you want to consume it in only 2 doses then you can take
- 3 gms pre-workout.
- 3 gms post-workout.
How Can You Get L-citrulline in Your Diet?
- Watermelon is one of the simplest and best food sources of L-citrulline.
- Nuts, meat, and legumes also contain this amino acid. But most people use supplements to extend the amount of L-citrulline in their diets.
Those people who don’t use creatine then should take citrulline malate instead of only L-citrulline and the dosage of citrulline malate would be the same.