Patent ID: 8318805

Claim:
A method for treating a patient suffering from a condition related to constitutive nitric oxide deficiency, wherein said condition is pulmonary hypertension, said method comprising the step of administering to the patient an efficient therapeutical amount of betaine for increasing in said patient at least one nitric oxide production pathway selected from the group consisting of constitutive nitric oxide synthase expression, constitutive Endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression, eNOS nitric oxide synthase expression, neural NOS nitric oxide synthase expression (nNOS), platelet NOS nitric oxide synthase expression, cNOS nitric oxide synthase expression, Type III nitric oxide synthase expressions, calcium dependant nitric oxide synthase expression, calcium dependant nitric oxide synthase production, endogenous nitric oxide production, and combinations thereof, said betaine being administered orally in an oral composition comprising at least (a) 20% by weight betaine and (b) 20% by weight L-arginine or a physiologically acceptable salt thereof.