Sarcosine is an amino acid made within the methylation cycle when S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) is conjugated with glycine. It can also be made by catabolism of dimethylglycine (DMG).
There are many dietary sources of sarcosine including eggs, legumes, nuts, and meats.
Sarcosine is also available as an over-the-counter supplement, and it is widely used in cosmetic formulations (toothpaste, creams, and soaps) and detergents. In the methylation cycle, sarcosine is created by the GNMT enzyme, which functions to control SAM excess.
Some clinicians use sarcosine elevation as a marker of ‘excess methyl supplementation’ or ‘over-methylation.’ Currently, there is no literature to support this hypothesis, but rather it is based on physiology. Sarcosine can also be produced through the breakdown of DMG. Sarcosine is a natural glycine transport inhibitor in the CNS, enhancing N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. NMDA synaptic receptors are not only important for basic CNS functions (breathing, motor function), but also learning, memory, and neuroplasticity.
Decreased NMDA function results in cognitive defects, and overstimulation causes excitotoxicity. Abnormalities in these receptors are implicated in many diseases and targeted for pharmacologic therapy. Sarcosine has been shown to be a co-agonist for NMDA receptors. For this reason, there are many studies evaluating sarcosine as an adjunct treatment for psychiatric diseases, such as schizophrenia, which is characterized by decreased NMDA function.
In addition, using sarcosine to enhance NMDA function can improve depression-like behaviors. Since DMG is essentially sarcosine with an extra methyl group, research shows that they have similar effects. Some studies have evaluated urinary and serum sarcosine’s use as a prostate cancer progression marker; however, the data is mixed. These studies are based on nonspecific metabolomic profiling, which followed random metabolite elevation patterns.
The clinical significance of low sarcosine is unknown. This group of markers relates to the intake of meat, poultry and fish, and may be decreased in vegetarians/vegans.
Understand and improve your laboratory results with our health dashboard.
Upload your lab reports and get your interpretation today.
Our technology helps to understand, combine, track, organize, and act on your medical lab test results.
Elevated sarcosine may be seen with methyl donor supplementation. Dietary intake of sarcosine-rich foods (i.e. eggs, legumes, nuts, and meats) and environmental sources (i.e. toothpaste, creams, and soaps) may result in elevated levels.
Nutrient cofactor deficiencies within the methylation cycle (folate, vitamin B12, and vitamin B2) can contribute to elevated levels. In fact, folate therapy has been used to normalize sarcosine.
Upregulation or a SNP in the GNMT enzyme within the methylation cycle may contribute to sarcosine elevations. Sarcosine has no known toxicity, as evidenced by the lack of phenotypic expression of inborn errors of sarcosine metabolism.
Interpret Your Lab Results
Upload your lab report, and we'll interpret and provide you with recommendations today.
Get Started
Monthly plan
Annual plan
Own it for life
Our exclusive data entry service is a convenient way to get your results into your private dashboard. Simply attach an image or a file of your lab test results, and one of our qualified data entry team members will add the results for you. We support all sorts of files, whether PDFs, JPGs, or Excel. This service is excellent whether you have a lot of reports to upload or are too busy to do the data entry yourself.
We strive to make the data entry process easy for you. Whether by offering dozens of templates to choose from that pre-populate the most popular laboratory panels or by giving you instant feedback on the entered values. Our data entry forms are an easy, fast, and convenient way to enter the reports yourself. There is no limit on how many lab reports you can upload.
$15 /month
billed every month
Most popular
Data entry included
$79 /year
$6.60/month billed annually
Data entry included
$250 /once
own it for life
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 Monthly Plus
for health professionals
$75 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
