Oral L-citrulline supplementation attenuates blood pressure response to cold pressor test in young men.

Background: Oral L-citrulline is efficiently converted to L-arginine, which has been shown to decrease brachial blood pressure (BP) at rest and during the cold pressor test (CPT). However, aortic BP may better reflect cardiovascular risk than brachial BP. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that oral L-citrulline supplementation attenuates brachial BP and aortic hemodynamic responses to CPT.