Amino Acids II
Amino acids, the building blocks o proteins, can have pronounced drug-like effects when taken singly, and should be taken with as much caution as drugs. Some of these effects are beneficial, but amino acids aren’t entirely benign substances.
In a placebo-controlled study of 31 men with untreated coronary artery disease, a stress test was given The stress test was then repeated after intravenous injection of either the amino acid carnitine (In the form of L-propionylcarnitine) or a placebo. The group that got the carnitine had fewer changes in their EKG, and their hearts pumped more efficiently.
Another trial of heart attack patients compared 79 subjects who took conventional medication with 81 subjects who also took carnitine. The carnitine group’s heart rates improved, and they had fewer anginal attacks and lower death rate (1.2% vs. 12.5% in the control group).
Another amino acid, tryptophan, had been used for depression and insomnia, but it’s no longer sold in the US because a batch contaminated with an unknown substance caused about 1500 cases of a debilitating condition called eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome, and about 40 deaths. There’s some evidence that, in combination with other treatments, tryptophan may help depression, but a review of tryptophan may help depression, but a review of tryptophan trials found that it’s unsuccessful as a treatment by itself.
Lysine is often used to treat or prevent herpes infections, but there are fewer positive trials than negative ones, and the negative ones are better. There’s actually a sound physiological basis for lysine to work, but when it’s studied in a controlled manner, it doesn’t seem to.
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