Question

Which food contains most arginine?

It’s found in protein-containing foods, protein supplements and other foods like nuts, whole wheat, seeds, peanuts, brown rice, popcorn, soy, raisins, chocolate and so on.

However, arginine in food often has to compete with other nutrients for absorption, whereas that is not the case when taking arginine in supplement form on an empty stomach

Here’s an interesting excerpt from Smart Basics:

There are two sources of arginine; arginine in the food chain and free-form arginine from supplements. Food-source arginine is found in abundance in turkey, chicken, and other meats. Non-food-source arginine is called L-arginine and is created through a fermentation process which separates arginine from all other proteins. In the presence of food and other amino acids, L-arginine will act like food-source arginine but when L-arginine is separated from its nutrient boundaries by the removal of all other amino acids, then L-arginine undertakes a different role, becoming capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier and stimulating growth hormone release secreted by the anterior pituitary.

They recommend up to 30 grams per day. I’ve never taken more than 3 grams per day but will experiment with more starting today.