The Century Project (v.109): Muscle Recovery - Nitric Oxide

Research evidence excerpt

The Century Project (v.109): Muscle Recovery - Nitric Oxide

Longevity and Healthspan June 17, 2026

Insights from the office of

Stefano Natella The Century Project (v.109): Muscle Recovery - Nitric

Head of Equities Oxide stefano.natella@guggenheimpartners.com

212 518 9806

In this series, The Century Project—part of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship

With contributions by platform at Guggenheim Securities—we cover one of the most debated topics

Vamil Divan, M.D. in modern medicine: Aging. We analyze more than 60 different factors that can

vamil.divan@guggenheimpartners.com influence our potential longevity and, in particular, our healthspan, defined as the 212 823 6543 period of time that we live free of any chronic disease.

We believe that, aside from autophagy, the other area of focus in helping muscle

recovery is the nitric oxide (NO) pathway. NO is a gaseous molecule that plays a key role

in the regulation of blood flow, vasodilatation, neurotransmission, platelet aggregation,

immune cytotoxic response and mitochondrial respiration. Most research on NO has

been focused on the benefits of increasing NO in sport performance. The general

consensus of this research is that there is biological logic for this, but most clinical

studies have shown minimal or no impact. Instead, we believe there is a stronger case

for leveraging NO to improve muscle tissue recovery and regeneration after intense

sport activities. Supplementation of either Arginine or Citrulline—a precursor of Arginine

—have been shown to increase NO, but Citrulline is much more effective than Arginine

and can help accelerate muscle recovery and regeneration.

Nitric Oxide, Citrulline and Muscle Recovery

In our last issue, we focused on what we can do to improve the recovery process after

exercising.