Effect of oral l-arginine supplementation on post-exercise blood pressure in hypertensive adults: A systematic review with meta-analysis of randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled studies

Abstract

Objectives: We studied the effects of oral L-arginine on post-exercise blood pressure (BP). Update: Throughout October 2020 and February 2021, the electronic databases Medline, Web of Science, CINAHL, Embase, Cochrane, Bireme, Open Gray, MedRxiv, Clinical Trials and Scopus were considered. The terms enforced to search randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled clinical trials were, “Arginine” AND “Post-exercise”. Three studies were involved in the meta-analysis, the original results of the three studies demonstrated a trend related to L-arginine intervention. The 95% CI ranged from −7.94 to −2.14 with a combined effect size of −5.04 for systolic BP and −4.96 to −0.97 with a combined effect size of −2.96 for diastolic BP. Perspectives and projects: Our meta-analysis revealed a combined effect size of 3.40 (P = 0.0007) for systolic BP and 2.91 (P = 0.004) for diastolic BP supportive of L-arginine intervention. Conclusions: Our review delivers evidence that oral L-arginine supplementation has the potential to reduce post-exercise systolic and diastolic BP in hypertensive patients.