Most people are familiar with the title of essential amino acids; they are called essential because they cannot be synthesized by the human body and this means that these compounds must be obtained from what we eat. Methionine is one of the essential amino acids and just like the others it is absolutely vital to building the many proteins that can be found in our bodies. Methionine is also responsible for the creating of a few enzymes.
Since it’s a building block of many proteins in the body it only makes sense that methionine is found in foods that contain lots of protein to start with. Foods like fish, poultry, meat and dairy products provide many of the essential amino acids our body needs and this of course includes methionine.
Methionine has been getting more attention than the rest of the essential amino acids because it is a precursor of s-adenosyl methionine which is a compound that appears in the body after methonine has been metabolized. Now it is very well known that this compound is crucial for a very large number of biochemical reactions that take place in our bodies and this includes the transmission of synapses between nerve cells. It is interesting to note the fact that the generally accepted medical opinion is that most individuals should be able to get all of the methionine they need from their food intake. However, there are a couple of clinical or sub-clinical conditions that can affect the human body’s capacity of metabolizing it properly.
It has been observed that particularly the brains of those who suffer from depression lack both serotonin as well as the s-adenosyl methionine compound. Clinical research has shown that when individuals suffering from moderate forms of depression whose normal diets were supplemented with 800 to 1600 mg of s-adenosyl methinine per day showed an increase in their serotonin levels and significantly improved their condition. This approach has also proven helpful in more severe cases of depression as well.
These are great signs that methionine supplements can help treat certain kinds of depression without needing to turn to traditional pharmaceutical options. These treatments usually come with a list of side effects which the s-adenosyl methionine does not.
It seems though that depression may not be the only type of affliction that can be treated with simple supplements of s-adenoxyl methionine. There are a few studies that have shown that it is also capable of tackling problems related to liver function like hepatitis and cirrhosis and there are suggestions that s-adenoxyl methionine could be used in therapies for rehabilitating alcoholics and drug addicts. These results appear thanks to its capability of improving emotional and psychological health on a whole. In fact there is at least one study that shows methonine’s potential of treating symptoms of osteo-arthritis as well.
Methionine is an integral part of muscle development as well because about half of the creatine used by the human body when building muscles is biosynthesized from methionine and a couple of other amino acids.
Of course more research into this compound is required in order for its effects to become better understood and it is important to be aware of the fact that taking too much of any of the essential amino-acids can cause problems. For instance, in the case of s-adenosyl methionine there is the potential risk of building up homocysteine in the body. This is yet another type of amino acid which our body produces, but high levels of which are known to increase the risk of cardiovascular and related diseases. This sort of side effect can be easily countered with a series of B vitamins and folic acid.
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