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Five bodybuilding supplements that ben efit more than your gym efforts

You've been taking supplements such as arginine, carnitine, creatine, glutamine and 5-HTP for years. They've helped you get into fighting shape'"a lean physique with powerful muscle and athletic prowess. But did you know that some of your favorite nutrition basics have better health implications too? Here's what science is saying about what you're probably taking already.

The supplement: Arginine
You take it now because:

Recovery is important, without it your muscles are fatigued and don't function optimally which effects your performance in the gym. A 2006 Journal of Nutrition study found that when arginine was combined with glutamine'"specifically 6.6 - 7.2 grams of this combination daily for 30 days'"training efficiency was improved because muscle integrity and the oxygen capacity of blood carried to the muscle increased.

But it also:
Prevents heart disease. As you already know, l-arginine helps make nitric oxide (NO) in the body, which is one of the reasons that it is able to help with muscle recovery as it increases blood flow. This action also helps keep your circulatory system healthy as it reduces blood vessel stiffness and improves blood vessel functioning, as shown by a French study in the June 2007 issue of the Journal of Nutrition.

Improves performance in the bedroom. This is where nitric oxide really comes into (er'