How does citrulline malate dosing compare to pure L‑citrulline in clinical trials and on a milligram‑to‑milligram basis?

1. What trials actually used — headline doses and formats

Randomized trials and meta‑analyses report L‑citrulline interventions spanning roughly 3–9 g/day for blood‑pressure and vascular outcomes and often use citrulline malate doses of ~6–8 g given 1 hour before exercise for acute performance studies, with 8 g CM being the most frequent CM dose in the literature ^{[1] [2] [4] [3]}.

2. Milligram‑to‑milligram chemistry: how much citrulline is in citrulline malate?

Citrulline malate is a salt/complex of L‑citrulline plus malic acid; typical formulations (1:1 or 2:1 CM) mean an 8 g CM serving yields about 4.0–5.3 g of L‑citrulline and the remainder as malate — so on a weight basis CM provides substantially less free citrulline per gram than pure L‑citrulline ^{[3] [2]}.

3. What the trials show when doses are equated for citrulline content

When studies compare outcomes after supplementation, chronic trials find that both L‑citrulline and citrulline malate improve markers like upper‑body muscular endurance and nitric oxide related responses, but head‑to‑head studies and meta‑analyses have largely failed to demonstrate a meaningful advantage of CM over LC when citrulline exposure is effectively matched; some acute trials also report no improvement in strength‑endurance with either form ^{[5] [7] [6]}.

4. Why some reports recommend higher gram doses of CM

Practitioner and consumer guidance commonly recommends 8 g CM because historical performance studies used that absolute CM mass and reported benefits (delayed fatigue, reduced soreness), but that reflects total supplement mass rather than pure citrulline mass; translating that to L‑citrulline equivalents explains why recommendations often say 3–6 g LC or 8 g CM — they aim for similar actual citrulline exposure ^{[4] [2] [8]}.

5. The malate question — plausible mechanisms and missing evidence

Malate is proposed to support the citric acid cycle and ATP regeneration, offering theoretical ergogenic synergy with citrulline, and some reviews highlight plausible mechanisms (malate‑aspartate shuttle, TCA intermediates), but empirical trials have not consistently confirmed additive performance or recovery benefits attributable to malate beyond the citrulline it contains ^{[6] [3]}.

6. Practical interpretation and limitations of current evidence

On a milligram‑for‑milligram basis, pure L‑citrulline supplies more active citrulline per gram and is the clearer choice when targeting precise arginine/NO effects; citrulline malate is used at higher absolute gram doses in trials to deliver comparable citrulline, and existing randomized trials show mixed to null differences between forms — however, heterogeneity in study designs, CM ratios (1:1 vs 2:1), and outcome measures limit definitive conclusions, and larger trials specifically matching citrulline content while isolating malate effects are still needed ^{[3] [5] [7] [6]}.

7. Bottom line — answer to the core question

Directly comparing dosing: use grams of L‑citrulline to compare potency; 1 g pure L‑citrulline > 1 g citrulline malate in citrulline content, and an 8 g CM dose is roughly equivalent to ~4–5 g L‑citrulline in most studies; clinically, when citrulline exposure is matched, trials do not show a consistent advantage to CM, so choice depends on whether the goal is to maximize citrulline per gram (choose LC) or follow the existing CM trial tradition/comfort with higher‑gram preworkout dosing (choose CM) — with the caveat that evidence for malate’s independent benefit remains unproven ^{[3] [4] [5] [6]}.