If you take a monoamine oxidase (MAC) inhibitor drug such as Nardil or Marplan to treat depression and anxiety, be sure to avoid foods and amino acid supplements containing phenylalanine, tryptophan, and especially tyrosine.
Some health problems can be made worse by amino acids. If you have kidney disease, you need to be very careful about how much protein you eat. Adding extra amino acids to your diet could cause problems, so be sure to discuss them with your doctor or nutritionist first. In large doses, lysine can interfere with insulin production, so don't take supplements of this amino acid if you have diabetes or blood sugar problems.
Some dieters try liquid protein diets as a fast way to lose weight. We strongly recommend against these because of possible heart failure. The FDA agrees and says they should not be use even under your doctor's supervision.
There are some rare genetic conditions that are worsened by amino acids. People with phenylketonuria (PKU), for instance, can't make the enzyme that converts the essential amino acid phenylalanine to the nonessential amino acid tyrosine. These people have to avoid phenylalanine in all forms—including aspartame, the artificial sweetener better known as Nutra-Sweet.
Arginine for Immunity
Arginine may be helpful for stimulating your immune system, healing wounds, and slowing the growth of cancer. One reason may be that arginine stimulates your thymus, the small gland in your upper chest that produces an important kind of infection fighting white blood cell.
Arginine, along with methionine and glycine, forms the building blocks of creatine, a protein that is needed for making energy in your muscles and for muscle growth. Based on the logic that if you eat more of the building blocks you'll make more of the protein, some bodybuilders and athletes take supplements of all three. Straight creatine supplements are now also very popular. Do these work?
They don't work any better than just eating a well-balanced diet. What about avoiding foods high in arginine, such as nuts, whole grains, and chocolate, if you have herpes? We'll talk more about that a little later on when we get to lysine.
Carnitine for Cardiac Cases
Carnitine is an amino acid you make in your body from the essential aminos lysine and methionine. In foods, carnitine is found in meat, especially beef, pork, and lamb. There's virtually none in plant foods, so vegetarians should be sure they're getting enough foods that contain lysine and methionine, the building blocks for carnitine.
Your heart contains more carnitine than any other part of your body. It's there to help the mitochondria (the tiny power plants) in your heart cells produce energy. How? It helps by carrying fatty acids into the mitochondria, where they're converted to energy. Some researchers believe that taking supplemental carnitine may help people with heart problems by making their hearts work more efficiently. Extra carnitine can sometimes be very helpful for people with angina or heart failure.
If you have a heart condition, discuss carnitine with your doctor before you try it. Recent research suggests that carnitine may help people with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), a mysterious illness that causes extreme tiredness, depression, loss of concentration, muscle pain, and other symptoms. In one study, 28 patients were given 3 grams of carnitine a day. All the patients showed clear improvements in their well-being and mental outlook, and only one had any side effects.
The researchers think carnitine works by improving energy production. Because carnitine is involved in moving fatty acids around your body, it seems reasonable to think that it may also help lower your cholesterol. Carnitine is sometimes helpful for lowering blood triglycerides and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and raising HDL (“good”) cholesterol. If you have high cholesterol, discuss carnitine with your doctor before you try it.
Recently an amino avid compound called arginine pyroglutamate has become popular. Italian researchers claim it helps memory problems, alcoholism and even mental retardation. Does it? We don't know, but we tend to doubt it.
Today many claims are being made for carnitine. Some people say it improves athletic performance and endurance, helps Alzheimer's disease, improves memory, and treats depression. At this point, the research for athletes doesn't prove much, although it may help people who do endurance sports like triathlons. The research on Alzheimer's and depression in the elderly is much more solid. Carnitine, in the form of acetyl-L-carnitine, is often helpful to these people, with no real side effects.
Some health problems can be made worse by amino acids. If you have kidney disease, you need to be very careful about how much protein you eat. Adding extra amino acids to your diet could cause problems, so be sure to discuss them with your doctor or nutritionist first. In large doses, lysine can interfere with insulin production, so don't take supplements of this amino acid if you have diabetes or blood sugar problems.
Some dieters try liquid protein diets as a fast way to lose weight. We strongly recommend against these because of possible heart failure. The FDA agrees and says they should not be use even under your doctor's supervision.
There are some rare genetic conditions that are worsened by amino acids. People with phenylketonuria (PKU), for instance, can't make the enzyme that converts the essential amino acid phenylalanine to the nonessential amino acid tyrosine. These people have to avoid phenylalanine in all forms—including aspartame, the artificial sweetener better known as Nutra-Sweet.
Arginine for Immunity
Arginine may be helpful for stimulating your immune system, healing wounds, and slowing the growth of cancer. One reason may be that arginine stimulates your thymus, the small gland in your upper chest that produces an important kind of infection fighting white blood cell.
Arginine, along with methionine and glycine, forms the building blocks of creatine, a protein that is needed for making energy in your muscles and for muscle growth. Based on the logic that if you eat more of the building blocks you'll make more of the protein, some bodybuilders and athletes take supplements of all three. Straight creatine supplements are now also very popular. Do these work?
They don't work any better than just eating a well-balanced diet. What about avoiding foods high in arginine, such as nuts, whole grains, and chocolate, if you have herpes? We'll talk more about that a little later on when we get to lysine.
Carnitine for Cardiac Cases
Carnitine is an amino acid you make in your body from the essential aminos lysine and methionine. In foods, carnitine is found in meat, especially beef, pork, and lamb. There's virtually none in plant foods, so vegetarians should be sure they're getting enough foods that contain lysine and methionine, the building blocks for carnitine.
Your heart contains more carnitine than any other part of your body. It's there to help the mitochondria (the tiny power plants) in your heart cells produce energy. How? It helps by carrying fatty acids into the mitochondria, where they're converted to energy. Some researchers believe that taking supplemental carnitine may help people with heart problems by making their hearts work more efficiently. Extra carnitine can sometimes be very helpful for people with angina or heart failure.
If you have a heart condition, discuss carnitine with your doctor before you try it. Recent research suggests that carnitine may help people with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), a mysterious illness that causes extreme tiredness, depression, loss of concentration, muscle pain, and other symptoms. In one study, 28 patients were given 3 grams of carnitine a day. All the patients showed clear improvements in their well-being and mental outlook, and only one had any side effects.
The researchers think carnitine works by improving energy production. Because carnitine is involved in moving fatty acids around your body, it seems reasonable to think that it may also help lower your cholesterol. Carnitine is sometimes helpful for lowering blood triglycerides and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and raising HDL (“good”) cholesterol. If you have high cholesterol, discuss carnitine with your doctor before you try it.
Recently an amino avid compound called arginine pyroglutamate has become popular. Italian researchers claim it helps memory problems, alcoholism and even mental retardation. Does it? We don't know, but we tend to doubt it.
Today many claims are being made for carnitine. Some people say it improves athletic performance and endurance, helps Alzheimer's disease, improves memory, and treats depression. At this point, the research for athletes doesn't prove much, although it may help people who do endurance sports like triathlons. The research on Alzheimer's and depression in the elderly is much more solid. Carnitine, in the form of acetyl-L-carnitine, is often helpful to these people, with no real side effects.
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