Where arginine and citrulline turn up in everyday food

Supplements are not the only source

Every amino acid on the MemoClear panel is also in food, often in far larger amounts than a capsule holds. That is not an argument against supplements; it is context, and context is the thing most sales pages leave out.

Arginine

Turkey and chicken, pork, pumpkin seeds, peanuts, soybeans, chickpeas, lentils and dairy. A typical mixed diet supplies somewhere between three and six grams a day, and a single chicken breast carries well over a gram. The capsule declares 200 mg of L-arginine plus 200 mg of L-arginine AKG.

Citrulline

Watermelon is the famous source, and the pale flesh nearest the rind holds more than the sweet red middle. Cucumber, pumpkin, bitter melon and other gourds contain it too. Amounts vary a great deal with variety and ripeness, so a figure for one melon does not transfer to the next. The capsule declares L-citrulline HCL and L-citrulline malate at 100 mg each.

Beta alanine

Beef, pork, poultry and fish, mostly reaching you as part of carnosine and anserine rather than as free beta alanine. Vegetarians take in noticeably less, which is the group for whom supplementation is most often discussed. The capsule declares beta alanine at 40 mg.

Niacin

Chicken and turkey breast, tuna, salmon, beef, liver, peanuts, brown rice and fortified breakfast cereals. Most people in a country with fortified staples get plenty. The capsule declares niacin, at 47 per cent of the daily value, which is a real contribution rather than a token one.

What to do with this

Use it as a ruler. When a page tells you a capsule is packed with something, ask how it compares with dinner. Sometimes the answer is that the capsule is the more concentrated source by a wide margin; sometimes it is that a meal already gives you ten times as much. Either answer is useful and you can only reach it when the label prints real numbers, which supplement facts page.