Lysine is one of the nine essential amino acids your body cannot produce, which means taking it through food and supplements is crucial. Taking lysine supplements can help you treat cold sores, reduce anxiety symptoms, lower your blood sugar levels, and improve bone health, especially if you're an older individual.
But how much lysine should you take? Keep reading this article and find out what the recommended lysine supplement dosage is.
Lysine - Benefits
As an essential amino acid, lysine performs many important metabolic functions in your body. First and foremost, every amino acid is a building block for proteins, that will create muscles and other important processes in your body. You naturally eat smaller doses of lysine through these protein-rich foods:
- meat,
- fish and seafood,
- eggs and dairy,
- legumes,
- nuts and seeds.
However, there are several scientifically proven health benefits of upping your lysine dosage and taking it through oral supplements:
- Lysine improves bone health in older individuals (1),
- Lysine lowers blood sugar levels (2),
- Lysine reduces the symptoms of anxiety (3, 4),
- Lysine helps treat and heal cold sores (5).
Lysine - dosage per day
Most people will take enough lysine, which is recommended as 35 milligrams per kilogram of body weight, through food. However, if you're vegetarian or vegan, or if you want to try lysine supplements for added health benefits, you might consider upping that dosage.
There is no official recommended lysine dosage, but scientific studies have discovered that 300 mg to 3 g per day is safe for up to a year. Some studies have even used up to 5 mg of lysine per day and found no adverse effects. However, scientists claim that taking more than 6 grams of lysine per day is probably unsafe and warn you to keep the dosage under that value (6).
Taking more than 6 g of lysine per day may result in extensive gastrointestinal issues like diarrhea, nausea, and stomach pain (7).
Maximum lysine dosage for cold sores
One specific use and benefit of oral lysine supplements is the effective treatment of cold sores. Many people would like to know what the appropriate lysine dosage per day for cold sores should be, especially during the first stages of a nasty outbreak. We're here to break it down.
First of all, lysine is not a cure for cold sores, but it may help prevent and shorten the duration of an outbreak. You should still take the antiviral medication your doctor prescribes you.
The usual dosage of lysine for cold sores is taking 1 gram three times a day orally. There are also lysine creams for cold sores, which you should apply on the cold sore multiple times every day for 10-11 days, or until the cold sore passes (8).
Literature references:
- Lv Z, Shi W, Zhang Q. Role of Essential Amino Acids in Age-Induced Bone Loss. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Sep 24;23(19):11281. doi: 10.3390/ijms231911281.
- Ullrich SS, Fitzgerald PC, Nkamba I, Steinert RE, Horowitz M, Feinle-Bisset C. Intragastric Lysine Lowers the Circulating Glucose and Insulin Responses to a Mixed-Nutrient Drink without Slowing Gastric Emptying in Healthy Adults. J Nutr. 2017 Jul;147(7):1275-1281. doi: 10.3945/jn.117.252213.
- Smriga M, Ghosh S, Mouneimne Y, Pellett PL, Scrimshaw NS. Lysine fortification reduces anxiety and lessens stress in family members in economically weak communities in Northwest Syria. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Jun 1;101(22):8285-8. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0402550101.
- Smriga M, Ando T, Akutsu M, Furukawa Y, Miwa K, Morinaga Y. Oral treatment with L-lysine and L-arginine reduces anxiety and basal cortisol levels in healthy humans. Biomed Res. 2007 Apr;28(2):85-90. doi: 10.2220/biomedres.28.85.
- Pedrazini MC, da Silva MH, Groppo FC. L-lysine: Its antagonism with L-arginine in controlling viral infection. Narrative literature review. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2022 Nov;88(11):4708-4723. doi: 10.1111/bcp.15444.
- Cynober L, Bier DM, Stover P, Kadowaki M, Morris SM, Elango R, Smriga M. Proposals for Upper Limits of Safe Intake for Methionine, Histidine, and Lysine in Healthy Humans. J Nutr. 2020 Oct 1;150(Suppl 1):2606S-2608S. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxaa231.
- Hayamizu K, Oshima I, Nakano M. Comprehensive Safety Assessment of l-Lysine Supplementation from Clinical Studies: A Systematic Review. J Nutr. 2020 Oct 1;150(Suppl 1):2561S-2569S. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxaa218.
- Chang JY, Balch C, Puccio J, Oh HS. A Narrative Review of Alternative Symptomatic Treatments for Herpes Simplex Virus. Viruses. 2023 Jun 2;15(6):1314. doi: 10.3390/v15061314.
