
Watermelons contain an ingredient called citrulline that can trigger production of a compound that helps relax the body's blood vessels, similar to what happens when a man takes Viagra, said scientists in Texas, one of the nation's top producers of the seedless variety.
Watermelons for the 4th "fireworks"
seems to work :)
Interesting report. Citrulline is converted to the amino acid arginine via the "urea cycle" that enables us to remove excess nitrogen as urea; citrulline is also the product of the reaction catalyzed by Nitric oxide (NO) synthase that speeds up the reaction arginine + O2 + NADPH -> citrulline + NADP+ + NO.
NO promotes dilation of blood vessels. Viagra increases levels of a compound called cyclic GMP (by inhibiting cyclic GMP phosphodiesterase which degrades cyclic GMP) and so does NO (by activating soluble guanylate cyclase which makes cyclic GMP). Cyclic GMP activates a specific protein kinase (PKG) which in turn catalyzes the phosphorylation of specific proteins with an end result of increased muscle relaxation, blood vessel dilation and ultimately penile erection (see: Chapter 7: Biochemical targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds
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