MRI's NO2 Platinum: Useless Arginine Supplement!?

Regular visitors of the SuppVersity will remember the study on Size On Maximum Performance, which - despite being financed by Gaspari - showed, from an objective perspective, only marginal effects on exercise performance. MRI was not so lucky to sponsor Reid et al. (Reid. 2010) who studied the effect of their pre-workout product, NO2 Platinum exercise induced increases of nitric oxide:

From the pre-exercise blood samples at each exercise session, L-argninine decreased 0.89% in the placebo group after supplementation, whereas the NO2 group significantly increased 84.67% (p = 0.001). Brachial artery blood flow was significantly increased in both groups (p = 0.001) immediately post-exercise, but was not different between groups. Nitric oxide was shown to significantly increase in both groups (p = 0.001) immediately post and at 30 min post-exercise, but was not different between groups. eNOS was significantly increased in both groups (p = 0.028) immediately post and at 30 min post-exercise (p = 0.004), but was not different between groups.

To conclude an increase in plasma arginine is all you can expect from this revolutionary NO-formula. While this won't harm you and may in fact help with reducing exercise induced buildup of ammonia, it certainly ain't what MRI is promising: "Perpetual Pumps-." "Hemodilation-." "Flash Recoveries-", etc.