The Unsung Molecule That Powers Your Brain

Nitric Oxide powers your longevity by quietly supporting your heart, brain, energy, and sex life. Here’s how to get more of it as you age.

By the time you hit 40, your body’s ability to produce nitric oxide, a molecule critical for blood flow, healthy blood pressure, cognition, energy, immune function, and even libido, drops by half. That might not make headlines, but to your body, it’s a seismic shift.

Nitric oxide (NO) is a short-lived gas molecule with an outsized role in human health. It opens up blood vessels, supports mitochondria, improves metabolic flexibility, and signals smooth muscle function, including the muscles involved in digestion and sexual response. And while NO was once the darling of performance athletes and biohackers, new research shows it may be one of the most foundational tools for healthy aging available today.

Why You’re Likely Deficient in NO

Even if you’re eating your greens and staying active, says Board Certified Holistic Nutritionist Cathy Eason, modern life stacks the deck against optimal nitric oxide production. Here’s why:

• Aging: After 40, NO production in the lining of blood vessels (the endothelium) declines dramatically. Sedentary lifestyles and oxidative stress speed up that drop.
  
• Diet and soil depletion: Leafy greens and beets are great nitrate sources, but modern farming practices have stripped many foods of their nitric oxide precursors.
  
• Oral hygiene overload: Mouthwash and essential oil-based products may kill the bacteria in your mouth that help convert dietary nitrate into NO.
  
• Poor chewing habits: You actually need to chew your greens well to start the nitrate-nitrite-NO conversion process in the mouth.

Even common medications like proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for acid reflux can block NO production by reducing stomach acid, which is required to convert nitrates into usable nitric oxide.

What Nitric Oxide Does (and Why It Matters)

New data in Frontiers in Aging and Nitric oxide underscore how broad NO’s benefits are:

• Heart health: NO acts as a vasodilator and prevents platelets from sticking together, helping lower blood pressure and reduce plaque buildup.
  
• Cognition: It improves blood flow to the brain and supports mitochondrial biogenesis, key for memory, clarity, and mood.
  
• Metabolic flexibility: NO boosts insulin sensitivity and helps your cells absorb glucose more efficiently, reducing inflammation and stabilizing energy.
  
• Sexual function: NO supports healthy arousal, lubrication, and blood flow for both men and women.
  

The Mitochondria Connection

NO also plays a role inside the cell. It supports mitochondrial function, helps generate ATP (your cells’ energy currency), and even helps fuse damaged mitochondria into stronger, rejuvenated ones. This process, known as mitochondrial biogenesis, is at the heart of longevity science. (NO signals mitochondria regeneration (aka biogenesis) and this is important to not only energy production but also sex hormone production (mitochondria produce the initial sex hormone, pregnenolone). Balanced sex hormones talk to mitochondria to keep brain cells healthy.)

Many people report feeling more energized, mentally sharper, and physically resilient after just a few days of restoring their nitric oxide levels. That’s not magic—it’s mitochondrial science.

Can You Boost Nitric Oxide Naturally?

Here are a few ways to increase your NO levels:

• Eat nitrate-rich foods: Leafy greens, beets, bok choy, celery, and rhubarb.
  
• Chew thoroughly: This activates enzymes and feeds the oral microbiome that kickstarts NO production.
  
• Ditch antimicrobial mouthwash: Instead, support your oral flora with prebiotic tools like Berkeley Life’s NO-activating gum.
  
• Supplement strategically: If your oral microbiome or diet isn’t cutting it, consider a clinically-tested nitrate formula.
  
• Exercise: Studies show that people who exercise regularly have higher levels of NO than people who do not exercise as they get older.
  

What we know from the research, however, is that it is challenging to boost NO naturally due to soil depletion, oral hygiene products, poor chewing, and common medications. This is why many people are functionally deficient. 

A Note From Our Sponsor: Why Choose Berkeley Life?

Berkeley Life’s Nitric Oxide Foundation 2 capsule per day formula includes 313mg of nitrates that provide the equivalent of eating a bowl of nitrate rich leafy green vegetables per day which has been clinically proven in gold standard clinical trials to:

• Reduces systolic blood pressure by an average of 12.5 points
• Improves key health markers like CRP, homocysteine, and A1c
• Increases sexual satisfaction in both men and women
• Recommended by over 3,000 healthcare practitioners.

They’ve also developed a nitric oxide test strip, a unique, patented salivary test strip that determines your nitric oxide status in just 10 seconds, and prebiotic gum to restore oral microbiome balance, which is critical if you’re not seeing changes in your levels despite supplementation.

Ready To See Where Your NO Levels Stand?

Unlock an exclusive offer just for Super Age readers: Click here for 20% off your first purchase + 10 free Nitric Oxide test strips—on us. Use code SUPERAGE. 

This is a paid content sponsorship with Berkeley Life. The author reported objectively on the research for this article.