Citrulline Malate

Review of Citrulline Malate

1. Citrulline Malate Overview
2. Citrulline Malate Benefits
3. Citrulline Malate Research
4. Citrulline Malate Doseage
5. Citrulline Malate References

Citrulline Malate Overview

Citrulline Malate is a special combination of L-Citrulline, a naturally occuring amino acid, and Malate (or Malic Acid) an organic salt compound. Citrulline plays a role in the urea cycle and helps to remove ammonia and buffer lactic acid levels. Malate/Malic acid is an intermediatary in the citric acid cycle - a series of chemical reactions that produce aerobic energy by oxidizing carbohydrate, fats and proteins within the mitochondria. Citrulline Malate is believed to enhance aerobic exercise performance and exercise recovery through this combination of improved lactate buffering and enhanced aerobic energy production.

Citruline Malate Benefits

Research has shown that Citrulline Malate has a number of positive effects on exercise performance including:

• Increased aerobic energy production
• Enhanced fatigue resistance
• Improved recovery both during and after exercise
• Enhanced removal of ammonia and buffering of lactic acid build up
• Improved Energy Levels
• Enhanced phospho-creatine resynthesis
• Citrulline Malate appears to be particularly useful to anyone involved aerobic exercise (runners, swimmers, footballers, rugby players etc) or anyone involved in high intensity exercise and wants to enhance recovery between sets (strength/power athletes, bodybuilders etc).

Citrulline Malate Research

Citrulline Malate and Aerobic Energy production

Research has demonstrated that citrulline malate can increase aerobic energy production by up to 34% (Benedahan et al., 2002). Accordingly the researchers found that the percentage of energy produced anaerobically was significantly reduced. The increased aerobic energy production is believed to be primarily through enhanced production of ATP molecules within the mitochondria.

Citrulline Malate and Amonia Clearance

Citrulline malate has been shown to help to detoxify amonia, protect against ammonia accumulation (Callis et al., 1991, Vanuxem et al., 1990), and can enhance ammonia clearance during exercise (Vanuxem et al., 1990).  This is important since ammonia levels increase during intense exercise and can have a negative effect on exercise performance.

Citrulline Malate and Lactate levels

Research has shown that citrulline malate helps to protect against the build up of lactic acid. This is important since elevated lactic acid levels are known to negatively affect exercise performance. By helping to buffer the build up of lactic acid, Citrulline malate should help you to train at higher intensities and recover more quickly between exercise sets or intervals. It is believed that Citrulline malate helps to protect against the build up of lactic acid in two ways.

1. Since citrulline malate enahnces the aerobic energy it reduces the anaerobic production of energy at a given exercise intensity, meaning that you can train at a higher intensity before lactate acid levels accumulate.
2. Citrulline malate increases levels of bicarbonates in the blood (Callis et al., 1991). Bicarbonates play an important role in controlling blood lactate levels by buffering lactic acid molecules and protecting againsts increased acidity of the blood.

Citrulline Malate and Exercise Recovery

Citrulline Malate appears to have a positive effect on the rate of recovery between exercise sets or between workouts. This has been demonstrated by enhanced phospho-creatine recovery, which improved by 20% following supplementation with Citrulline Malate (Benedahan et al., 2002). This is of benefit to anyone involved in repeated bouts of exercise like interval training or repeated sets of weight lifting.

Citrulline Malate and Fatigue

Citrulline malate has been demonstrated to reduce the sensations of fatigue (Benedahan et al., 2002) . This is likely to be due to a combination of factors including reduced blood lactate and ammonia levels, enhanced aerobic energy production, and increased phospho-creatine recovery.

Citrulline Malate and Arginine Ornithine levels

Supplementation with citrulline malate leads to increased levels of both Arginine and Ornithine. These two amino acids that play an important role in muscle growth and can lead to increases in growth hormone levels. In addition Arginine can enhance blood flow to and within the muscle by increasing the production of nitric oxide.

Citrulline Malate Dosage

• Non training days - around 3,000mg of Citrulline Malate on an empty stomach in the morning
• Training days - 3,000mg of Citrulline Malate 30-40mins before a workout.

Citrulline Malate References

Bendahan, D., Mattei, J. P., Ghattas, B., Confort-Gouny, S., Le Guern, M. E. and Cozzone, P. J. (2002) Citrulline/malate promotes aerobic energy production in human exercising muscle.  British Journal of Sports Medicine. 36 (4), 282-289.

Callis, A., Magnan de Bornier, B., Serrano, J. J., Bellet, H. and Saumade, R. (1991) Activity of citruline malate on acid-base balance and blood ammonia and amino acid levels. Study in the animal and in man. Arzneimittelforschung. 41 (6), 660-663.

Vanuxem, D., Duflot, J. C., Prevot, H., et al., (1990) Influence of an anti-asthenia agent, citrulline malate, on serum lactate and ammonia kinetics during a maximum exercise test in sedentary subjects. Seminaire des Hopitaux de Paris. 66, 477-481.