Methionine is one of nine essential amino acids that you need to take in through food and supplements. It's found in protein-rich foods like eggs, meat, and fish, and it's a powerful antioxidant and liver protector. Science has proven that taking methionine supplements has other positive health benefits too! Keep reading and find out more.
Methionine - Foods
Methionine is an amino acid, so eating any protein-rich food will probably provide you with decent amounts of methionine. However, some protein-rich foods have much more methionine than others, like (1):
- egg whites,
- brazil nuts,
- chicken,
- beef,
- fish and seafood (salmon, tuna, crab, lobster).
Methionine - Health Benefits
Taking a methionine supplement every day may protect you against oxidative damage, and bring many more health benefits to you. In short, methionine supplements improve (2):
- hepatic steatosis,
- liver fibrosis,
- inflammation,
- bone health.
Explore more of these findings below.
Methionine - Proven Health Benefits
Several scientific studies showed that taking methionine along with a high-cholesterol diet can improve liver steatosis, fibrosis, and high oxidative stress (3).
As a strong liver protector, methionine is often given as a counter to acetaminophen overdosing. Acetaminophen is a pain killer that can do a lot of damage to the liver in very high doses, and methionine can powerfully shield the liver from it (4)
A 2024 study by Amorim et al. showed that increased blood methionine levels after a 10-day fast are most likely responsible for improved bone health and remodeling of bone microarchitecture (5).
It's worth noting that many studies challenge previously mentioned findings, and more clinical research on precise dosage for each health benefit is needed.
Methionine - Unproven Health Benefits
You can often see many suggested health benefits of taking methionine supplements, but the research behind them is very limited at the moment. Some of them are:
- weight loss - several studies show that, contrastingly, restriction of methionine shows positive results in losing weight instead (6, 7),
- better sleep - animal studies show that methionine supplementation increases night activity in mice (8),
- improving hair, skin, and nails - because methionine contains sulfur, it can help replenish hair loss and better skin health, even though the research is limited (9),
- slowing down cell aging - cell and animal studies show that decreasing, not increasing, methionine levels slows down cell aging (10).
Methionine - Side Effects
- nausea,
- dizziness,
- irritability,
- low blood pressure.
Symptoms of too much methionine (about 70 times higher than the recommended daily average) can be (11):
- increased cholesterol levels,
- reduced body weight,
- hyperhomocysteinemia - when homocysteine levels are higher than normal limits, the metabolism of homocysteine is disrupted.
- neurological effects - taking very high doses of methionine can cause negative neurological effects, including brain damage.
Literature References:
- National Research Council (US) Subcommittee on the Tenth Edition of the Recommended Dietary Allowances. Recommended Dietary Allowances: 10th Edition. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 1989. 6, Protein and Amino Acids. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK234922/
- Navik U, Sheth VG, Khurana A, Jawalekar SS, Allawadhi P, Gaddam RR, Bhatti JS, Tikoo K. Methionine as a double-edged sword in health and disease: Current perspective and future challenges. Ageing Res Rev. 2021 Dec;72:101500. doi: 10.1016/j.arr.2021.101500.
- Li Z, Wang F, Liang B, Su Y, Sun S, Xia S, Shao J, Zhang Z, Hong M, Zhang F, Zheng S. Methionine metabolism in chronic liver diseases: an update on molecular mechanism and therapeutic implication. Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2020 Dec 4;5(1):280. doi: 10.1038/s41392-020-00349-7.
- Park BK, Dear JW, Antoine DJ. Paracetamol (acetaminophen) poisoning. BMJ Clin Evid. 2015 Oct 19;2015:2101. PMID: 26479248; PMCID: PMC4610347.
- Amorim T, Kumar NG, David NL, Dion W, Pagadala T, Doshi NK, Zhu B, Parkhitko A, Steinhauser ML, Fazeli PK. Methionine as a regulator of bone remodeling with fasting. JCI Insight. 2024 May 21;9(12):e177997. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.177997.
- Plaisance EP, Greenway FL, Boudreau A, Hill KL, Johnson WD, Krajcik RA, Perrone CE, Orentreich N, Cefalu WT, Gettys TW. Dietary methionine restriction increases fat oxidation in obese adults with metabolic syndrome. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2011 May;96(5):E836-40. doi: 10.1210/jc.2010-2493.
- Yu D, Yang SE, Miller BR, Wisinski JA, Sherman DS, Brinkman JA, Tomasiewicz JL, Cummings NE, Kimple ME, Cryns VL, Lamming DW. Short-term methionine deprivation improves metabolic health via sexually dimorphic, mTORC1-independent mechanisms. FASEB J. 2018 Jun;32(6):3471-3482. doi: 10.1096/fj.201701211R.
- Sánchez López CL, Barriga C, Rodríguez AB, Franco L, Rivero M, Cubero J. Effects of oral administration of L-methionine on activity/rest rhythm. Acta Physiol Hung. 2010 Jun;97(2):224-33. doi: 10.1556/APhysiol.97.2010.2.9.
- Milani M, Colombo F; GFM-O-Trial Investigators Group: Chiara Baraldo (Padova), Mauro Barbareschi (Milano), Paolo Chieco (Ruvo di Puglia), Laura Colonna (Roma), Mandel Victor Desmond (Modena), Maria Cristina Fiorucci (Genova). Efficacy and tolerability of an oral supplement containing amino acids, iron, selenium, and marine hydrolyzed collagen in subjects with hair loss (androgenetic alopecia, AGA or FAGA or telogen effluvium). A prospective, randomized, 3-month, controlled, assessor-blinded study. Skin Res Technol. 2023 Jun;29(6):e13381. doi: 10.1111/srt.13381.
- Kitada M, Ogura Y, Monno I, Xu J, Koya D. Effect of Methionine Restriction on Aging: Its Relationship to Oxidative Stress. Biomedicines. 2021 Jan 29;9(2):130. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines9020130.
- Cottington EM, LaMantia C, Stabler SP, Allen RH, Tangerman A, Wagner C, Zeisel SH, Mudd SH. Adverse event associated with methionine loading test: a case report. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2002 Jun 1;22(6):1046-50. doi: 10.1161/01.atv.0000020400.25088.a7.
