The Story Behind ProArgi-9+
ProArgi-9+ is an L-arginine drink powder made by Synergy WorldWide, a company owned by Nature’s Sunshine Products. It has been on sale since 2006, and people still ask how it came about, who helped to shape it, and how it relates to the well-known research on nitric oxide. This article sets out that history, as far as it can be confirmed.
The research that came first
In 1998 the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro and Ferid Murad, for their discoveries concerning nitric oxide as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system.
Nitric oxide is a gas made in the body. The three scientists showed that it acts as a messenger between cells. One of the places it is made is in the lining of blood vessels. The body produces nitric oxide from L-arginine, an amino acid found in everyday foods such as meat, fish, nuts, seeds and beans.
Those findings were about how the body itself works, not about a particular brand of supplement. The prize is often mentioned alongside later L-arginine products, so one point should be stated plainly: Dr Ignarro, and the other prize winners, have no association with Synergy WorldWide or with ProArgi-9+. The prize recognised laboratory discoveries made years earlier. It was not an endorsement of any later product.
How the formula was developed
Synergy WorldWide launched ProArgi-9+ in 2006. Nature’s Sunshine, which had taken full ownership of Synergy in 2000, manufactured the product in its own facilities.
The scientists at Nature’s Sunshine played a central part in the formula. Dr William J. Keller, who joined the company in 2001 as Vice President of Health Sciences, and his research team, were later described by Synergy as primary contributors to the formulation.
In 2007, Synergy partnered with Dr J. Joseph Prendergast, an American doctor board-certified in endocrinology, internal medicine and metabolism. According to the company’s own account, he had been recommending L-arginine to his patients since 1991, and he contributed to the formulation of ProArgi-9+.
The usual version of the story needs a small correction. Dr Prendergast did not invent the product on his own, and he did not launch it. He joined after it had already gone on sale, and he contributed to the formula alongside the Nature’s Sunshine scientists who had developed it.
A study in California in 2009
In 2009, the High Desert Heart Institute in Victorville, California, carried out a 90-day study of ProArgi-9+ involving 33 patients. The work was overseen by Dr Siva Arunasalam, a cardiologist who founded the institute in 1996.
What is in the formula
ProArgi-9+ is a citrus-berry flavoured powder, mixed with water. Its main amino acids are L-arginine and L-citrulline. The UK and European formula also includes pomegranate concentrate, grape extracts and D-ribose, together with vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin K, vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and folic acid.
Where a food supplement contains enough of a vitamin, only certain wording is allowed in the UK. Vitamin C, for example, contributes to normal collagen formation for the normal function of blood vessels. Vitamin C also contributes to the normal function of the immune system and to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue. Vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 contribute to normal red blood cell formation and to normal homocysteine metabolism.
Those statements refer to the vitamins themselves, at the amounts present in the product, not to L-arginine, and not to the formula as a whole.
Where L-Arginine Plus fits in
ProArgi-9+ is made in Utah, where Synergy WorldWide and Nature’s Sunshine are based. L-Arginine Plus, the product on this site, is a similar L-arginine and L-citrulline drink powder, and it is also made in Utah.
Food supplements should not be used as a substitute for a varied, balanced diet and healthy lifestyle. Speak to your GP before taking supplements if you have a medical condition or take medication.