Lysine: A Necessary Amino Acid for the Human Body

By Trisha Keli, published Jan 02, 2008
Published Content: 36  Total Views: 8,669  Favorited By: 0 CPs
Embed:  
Rating: 4.0 of 5
According to WiseGeek and Wikipedia, Lysine is a necessary amino acid for the human body which can only be obtainable through food sources from our daily meals. While lysine is also used for treating herpes, it is also essential to our body for other needs, and reasons. We don't even know we obtain lysine when we consume our daily meals. Lysine has many beneficial medicinal properties to benefit us, and our everyday lives.

Lysine aids our body in building muscle tissues which helps make us stronger. It also helps us from recoveries from injuries and even cuts or things like surgeries; not to mention, it aids us in absorbing calcium effectively for healthy bones ad a healthy body. It helps regulate and produce hormones, antibodies and enzymes within our bodies for healthy immune systems and more. In fact, Lysine is very important for our health despite the fact that we are not aware we are consuming it in our everyday meals. Lysine supplements, on the other hand, are generally used to treating herpes, and are high doses which should not be messed with.

While lysine deficiency is rare, it can cause some serious conditions. Keep in mind that we only need to consume a couple grams of lysine in a day from food sources. Generally, any animal and plant based foods will be rich in lysine; thus, as long as you eat, you're fine, and should have enough lysine in your diet. There are some foods which have a higher level of lysine within them like fish and cereal. Lysine deficiency can cause amnesia, lethargy, hair loss, enzyme disorders, and reproductive problems.

Lysine supplement are used to control the outbreaks of herpes; however, in this case, we are not talking about a couple of grams, but rather thousands of grams. If you are in this scenario, you will also be advised to eat some foods, and not others because of argenine. Argenine is an amino acid which is thought of to interfere with the effectiveness of lysine supplements.

Takeaways
  • Lysine is an amino acid which is obtainable through eating as it can be found in our foods.
  • Lysine helps build our muscles tissues, recover from injuries, and helps us absorb calcium.
  • Argenine is another amino acid thought to interfere with the lysine acid.
Did You Know?
While we only need a couple of grams of lysine in our body everyday, lysine in large amounts can be used in lysine supplement to control outbreaks of herpes.
Comments
Showing Comment 1 of 1
 
 
Great article! :) People suffering from cystinuria and cystinosis must stay away from lysine or it will cause a surge in their cystine kidney stones. Most people with cystinuria know to stay away from L-cysteine but don't realize lysine has a similar effect on our messed up kidneys. Unfortunatly, both amino acids are found in muscle gaining products so we have to be extra careful not only with our diet, but with any muscle building/weight loss supplements we consume.

Posted on 01/03/2008 at 12:01:45 AM

Type in Your Comments Below - (1000 characters left)
Your name:

Submit your own content on this or any topic. Get started »
Showing Comment 1 of 1
 
Most Commented On