L-Ornithine Benefits – Liver Detox, Muscle Strength and More

L-Ornithine isn’t necessarily a household name – it’s one of those things most people have never heard of. But that doesn’t mean it’s not important. Let’s take a closer look at l-ornithine benefits:

L-Ornithine 101

So, for starters, it’s an amino acid. And amino acids are the building blocks that make up protein. Basically, your body puts them together to create muscle. Each amino acid has it’s own special job. And L-Ornithine’s biggest responsibility is to help your body with detoxification.¹ You see, ammonia (NH3) is a waste product of cellular metabolism, and it can be toxic when it’s allowed to grow to substantial amounts in your body.² And L-Ornithine is the catalyst in the biochemical process that converts that extra ammonia into something that can be more easily eliminated in your urine. In addition, it is a precursor to the formation of other important compounds in your body. That means it’s the substance from which other important substances are formed. For instance, L-ornithine is a precursor for –

Glutamic acid –

Glutamic acid is an essential neurotransmitter – that means it transports messages between cells in your brain – and it helps with memory and concentration.³ Furthermore, glutamic acid can give you an added boost when it comes to recovering from endurance exercise.⁴

Proline –

Another important amino acid, proline helps the body break down proteins for use by your healthy cells. In fact, when it’s combined with the other amino acids, proline can help produce collagen – which is kind of like your body’s glue. That being said, collagen contains around 15 percent of your body’s proline. That’s why proline helps build tendons and keep your joints healthy.⁵ So, you can see how important L-Ornithine is, since it helps build other important amino acids.

But what are the major benefits?

Well, it’s great for –

Muscle Strength and Health –

Aging is associated with the frustrating loss of muscle mass known as sarcopenia. Unfortunately, this can increase the risks of injury and disability.⁶ Luckily, older muscles respond to amino acids like ornithine which is essential for the production of your body’s proteins, enzymes, and muscle tissue.⁷

^{Skin Health –}

It’s possible it might help support healthy wound recovery. According to a recent study, the treatment of burn-injured patients with supplemental L-Ornithine were able to recover better clinically.⁸

Liver Detoxification –

L-Ornithine is truly special, because it helps your body eliminate extra nitrogen and other types of waste. As mentioned before, it plays a major part in helping your body get rid of ammonia and can even stimulate tissue regeneration.⁹ So, how can you get a good amount of it from Gundry-approved foods? Well, honestly … it’s not too tough. Your basic animal proteins are going to be the best dietary sources of L-Ornithine – plain and simple.

• Pastured Grass-fed Meats and Omega-3 Eggs –

These are your best shots when it comes to getting L-Ornithine into your system. That’s because L-Ornithine can be synthesized from the essential amino acids in complete protein sources, like grass-fed meats, pastured poultry, wild-caught fish, and omega-3 eggs.¹⁰

• Gundry-approved Dairy Products –

L-Ornithine can also be found in dairy products, but you’ll want to stick to the ‘right kind’ of dairy. Even then, you should only have these products in moderation. Try cooking with French or Italian butter only, or ghee. As far as cheeses go, you’ll want to stick to goat or sheep cheese and high-fat French/Italian cheeses like triple-cream brie.

• Coconut –

When people talk about high-protein plant foods, they go on and on about soybeans and legumes. First of all, those foods are dangerous lectin bombs. They should be struck from anyone’s list. Instead, go for delicious coconut meat.

Coconut meat is packed with amino acids. In fact, it contains 17 of the 20 amino acids your body needs to keep going strong.

Just eating the meat of the coconut is delicious, but if fresh coconut isn’t around – grab some shredded coconut, and add it to a smoothie. Speaking of smoothies, read about our 3 day smoothie detox.

Is it possible to be L-Ornithine deficient?

Deficiency is actually pretty rare. But sometimes, if your body is under significant metabolic demand, you may experience a shortage of it. Some of the conditions that could be responsible for such a situation might be chronic illnesses, certain types of serious injuries, or sometimes even pregnancy. Signs of deficiency may present as –

• Fatigue
• Nausea
• Inappropriate behavior
• Drowsiness
• Vomiting¹⁰

If you think you might be experiencing a deficiency, go ahead and contact your doctor.

The Takeaway

You want to make sure you’re doing your part to keep yourself healthy and to keep your muscles strong. Again, L-Ornithine is just one of many amino acids. But it fulfills a very important function and works well with all of the amino acids to keep your body in working order. So, fill your plate with limited amounts of grass-fed proteins and friendly nuts. Your body will thank you.

Sources: 1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20642112 2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8672289 3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22018046 4. https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-7-8 5. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/L-proline#section=Top 6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3183816/ 7. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/L-ornithine#section=Drug-Indication 8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10601539 9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20642112 10. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/L-ornithine#section=Drug-Indication 11. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3342550/