Lysine is a nutritionally essential amino acid abundant in meat, fish, fowl, and legumes and is needed for formation of body proteins and enzymes.
Lysine can be methylated using S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) to synthesize carnitine, which is needed for fatty acid oxidation. Lysine also generates Acetyl CoA for use in the citric acid cycle. Lysine, proline, hydroxyproline, and vitamin C are important in the synthesis of collagen for skin, bones, tendons and cartilage.
L-lysine supplementation has also been studied for herpes simplex treatment and prophylaxis and may be beneficial.
Low levels of essential amino acids may indicate a poor-quality diet, or maldigestion due to deficient digestive peptidase activity or pancreatic dysfunction.
Lysine intolerance is a rare condition where intestinal absorption and renal tubular reabsorption of lysine, arginine and ornithine are impaired. This results in deficiencies of these amino acids and can lead to hyperammonemia.
Lastly, vitamin B3 deficiency has been associated with low levels of lysine and other amino acids.
Understand and improve your laboratory results with our health dashboard.
Upload your lab reports and get interpretation today.
Our technology helps to understand, combine, track, organize, and act on your medical lab test results.
High dietary intake of protein can elevate lysine, as well as lack of cofactors needed in its utilization and catabolism, such as thiamine and niacin.
Hyperlysinemia is a rare inborn error of metabolism that causes a defect in the major catabolic pathway of lysine to acetyl CoA.
Interpret Your Lab Results
Upload your lab report and we’ll interpret and provide you with recomendations today.
Get StartedGet Started With Our Personal Plan
Advanced Plan
Unlimited Plan
Are You a Health Professional?
Get started with our professional plan
Welcome to Healthmatters Pro.
Save time on interpreting lab results with the largest database of biomarkers online. In-depth research on any test at your fingertips, all stored and tracked in one place. Learn more
Pro Plan
for health professionals
$45 per month
At HealthMatters, we're committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of your personal information. We've put industry-leading security standards in place to help protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of the information under our control. We use procedural, physical, and electronic security methods designed to prevent unauthorized people from getting access to this information. Our internal code of conduct adds additional privacy protection. All data is backed up multiple times a day and encrypted using SSL certificates. See our Privacy Policy for more details.
1-Methylhistidine, 3-Methylhistidine, a-Amino-N-butyric Acid, a-Aminoadipic Acid, Alanine, Arginine, Asparagine, Aspartic Acid, b-Alanine, b-Aminoisobutyric Acid, Citrulline, Cyst(e)ine, Cystathionine, Ethanolamine, g-Aminobutyric Acid, Glutamic Acid, Glutamine, Glycine, Histidine, Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Ornithine, Phenylalanine, Phosphoethanolamine, Phosphoserine, Proline, Sarcosine, Serine, Taurine, Threonine, Tryptophan, Tyrosine, Urea, Valine