Prologue Vol 1 | Issue 1 March 2024

Prologue Vol 1 | Issue 1 March 2024

Volume 01 | Issue 01

March 2024

The Brilliance of L-Tyrosine

written by Dr. Kevin Bunting Jr., Pharm.D. 5-10 min read

Hello everyone! And welcome to my monthly newsletter! This is where I take a bit of a dive into a scientific topic or topics that I find interesting, that you all suggest to me, or just something cool that's happening in the world today! I want this to be digestible for a single sitting but also deep enough to pique the interests if you want that deeper and more rigorous dive on the topic.


Let me know on the Instagram or via email (lab@nesislabs.com - this is my secret second email here 😉) if you have any questions or any topics you want discussed here! Let's make this an open forum.

OK, enough formalities, onto the post!

Topics Discussed in this Issue:

  • The Building Block of Power (for once we are not talking about ATP...)

  • The Science Behind L-Tyrosine's Brain Supporting Power

  • The Scrutinizing Lens of Research: L-Tyrosine Literature Review

  • L-Tyrosine in Daily Life

The Building Block of Power


What does it mean to generate power?


In physics we know that Power = Work/time. In terms of the human body, that is usually viewed from either a calorie (joules if you're not from the U.S.) or in terms of ATP breakdown.


Very quick aside. ATP or adenosine triphosphate is a molecule created within the cells of our bodies via various pathways. The main pathway is called (if you're a biochemist) the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle or (if you're a biologist) the Krebs cycle. These cycles take the product from glycolysis (the breaking down of glucose molecules), pyruvate, and bring it through a whole host of chemical reactions, then into the mitochondria through the electron transport chain to product ATP. For reference, 1 ATP molecule releases 7.3 kcal/mol (if you were curious).


So what does L-tyrosine and the figure here have to do with energy and ATP?


When your body is under an acute stressor (let's use an extreme... ex. you're currently being chased by a swarm of wasps) -> did you feel a mini surge in your belly reading that? That's acute stress.


What happens is your body sends signals down the central nervous system to your adrenal glands. Deep in the middle of your adrenal gland is an area called your adrenal medulla. This is where a majority of your body's norepinephrine (NE) (noradrenaline) and epinephrine (epi) (adrenaline) are stored.


Under acute stress, your body depletes the stores of NE and EPI to their respective end organs (heart, muscles, etc.). This burst of fast acting receptor binding causes a huge burst of energy and power but then leaves you feeling drained.


This is where L-tyrosine comes in. We can't simply give you some oral EPI or NE and expect you to be able to keep going. We need a bioavailable precursor to the system to help replenish your NE and EPI stores.


This same mechanism applies to less critical stressors and can leave you feeling equally depleted (ex. a breakup, taking an exam, near miss car accident, social situations, public speaking, etc.)

The Science Behind L-Tyrosine


Mechanism of Action


General: Tyrosine is a nonessential amino acid endogenously synthesized by the body from phenylalanine. [10]


For those with phenylketonuria (PKU), who can't convert phenylalanine to tyrosine, it becomes an essential amino acid.

L-tyrosine is also found in various dietary proteins, including dairy, meats, fish, eggs, nuts, beans, oats, and wheat. When the dietary intake of tyrosine is insufficient, the body uses phenylalanine for conversion. [11]


The dietary requirement for tyrosine is influenced by the intake of phenylalanine. If one consumes an adequate amount of phenylalanine (around 9 mg/kg daily), the daily tyrosine requirement is about 7 mg/kg. Tyrosine is a component of all proteins. [12]


Mood regulatory effects: Tyrosine is potentially significant in enhancing and regulating mood. It serves as a building block for catecholamines, such as norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine. [4,11]


A deficiency in norepinephrine might be linked to dysregulations of mood and feelings of unhappiness, and dopamine may contribute to the effectiveness of modulating molecules involved.  [13]


In healthy individuals, a single dose of tyrosine elevates the plasma levels of norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine.

Research indicates that consuming an amino acid drink devoid of tyrosine and phenylalanine—key precursors for catecholamines—diminishes the brain's responsiveness to incentives without affecting behavior. [15]


Anti-stress effects: Some researchers theorize that under stress, the brain might show inefficiency to produce adequate amounts of tyrosine from phenylalanine. [11] Catecholamines synthesized from tyrosine may become depleted during stressful situations. [16]


Increasing tyrosine availability to the brain could potentially elevate catecholamine production, thereby mitigating the adverse effects of stress, such as physical manifestations of fear. [17,18,19]


Both animal and human studies provide some evidence that supplemental tyrosine could enhance performance, memory, and learning under various challenging conditions like extreme environments, intense exercise, and psychological stress. [4,11,20,21,22]


Scrutiny Through Literature: L-Tyrosine

Literature Review


The majority of clinical research points to oral L-tyrosine intake as beneficial for cognitive function in stressful environments.[1,2,3]


Preliminary studies involving healthy adults indicate that consuming 100-300 mg/kg of tyrosine before short-term exposure to stress from cold or noise can enhance cognitive capabilities like executive function and short-term memory, in comparison to a placebo. [4,5]


Two initial studies involving sleep-deprived healthy individuals suggest that a 150 mg/kg dose of tyrosine may improve certain cognitive metrics, such as alertness, when compared to placebo.


Research evaluating tyrosine's impact on cognitive control during conflict tasks is limited.


One small-scale study involving healthy subjects implies that consuming 2 grams of tyrosine powder dissolved in orange juice an hour before testing could speed up cognitive reaction times in the Simon task. However, no noticeable improvement was observed in the Flanker task, possibly due to the study's insufficient power to detect an effect. [6]


In healthy adults, initial studies suggest that a dosage of 150-300 mg/kg of L-tyrosine before acute stress from cold, noise, or multitasking appears to improve memory performance compared to a placebo. [3,7,8,9]


Nonetheless, a 150 mg/kg dose of L-tyrosine doesn't seem to enhance memory when individuals engage in less stressful activities, such as completing a single, simple task or testing without exposure to cold. [7,9]


Oral L-tyrosine intake appears to bolster memory performance in individuals facing stressors like cold environments or having to juggle multiple tasks simultaneously.

L-Tyrosine in Daily Life

When I was formulating NESIS, L-tyrosine was actually one of the first ingredients I did my complete deep literature review on. Funny enough, it ended up having good data at a dose that was actually attainable!


Here is a fun fact that you may not have considered before. A supplement capsule has a size associated with numbers (0 is larger than 1 which is larger than 2). NESIS uses a 00 size capsule. What this means is that each capsule, when filled in approximately 23 mm long and can hold up to 750 mg of packed powder... Take that in for a second. When you're looking on the shelf at other "nootropics" and "brain supplements" that offer miraculous benefits in a single tablet or two, remember this fact. Even the largest reasonable sized capsule (00) can only hold 750 mg. That means every 2.6 capsules of NESIS is pure L-tyrosine alone! Hence, why our formula is six (6) capsules daily.


If you're looking for something to "feel" from NESIS, L-tyrosine is one of the keys. Many of our ingredients focus purely on longevity and the long-term benefits of consistency. L-tyrosine (remember our pathway earlier) will help boost you every single day.


NESIS® INCEPTION | 30-Day

OUR FLAGSHIP SUPPLEMENT: SUPERIOR COGNITIVE SUPPORT

SAVE 50% off your second bottle when you bundle!

 NESIS INCEPTION is everything NESIS LABS stands for. It's simple, Clinically dosed ingredients with transparent labeling (a.k.a. no homeopathic proprietary blends) that allow you to experience optimized levels of focus, clarity and memory. It's also stimulant-free and conveniently dosed at once per day to easily incorporate right into your daily routine.

 (Size: NESIS INCEPTION is 180 capsules for a 30 day supply.)

References


  1. O'Brien, C., Mahoney, C., Tharion, W. J., Sils, I. V., and Castellani, J. W. Dietary tyrosine benefits cognitive and psychomotor performance during body cooling. Physiol Behav. 2-28-2007;90(2-3):301-307.

  2. Banderet, L. E. and Lieberman, H. R. Treatment with tyrosine, a neurotransmitter precursor, reduces environmental stress in humans. Brain Res Bull 1989;22(4):759-762.

  3. Deijen, J. B. and Orlebeke, J. F. Effect of tyrosine on cognitive function and blood pressure under stress. Brain Res Bull 1994;33(3):319-323.

  4. Neri DF, Wiegmann D, Stanny RR, et al. The effects of tyrosine on cognitive performance during extended wakefulness. Aviat Space Environ Med 1995;66:313-9.

  5. Magill, R. A., Waters, W. F., Bray, G. A., Volaufova, J., Smith, S. R., Lieberman, H. R., McNevin, N., and Ryan, D. H. Effects of tyrosine, phen********, caffeine D-amph*******, and placebo on cognitive and motor performance deficits during sleep deprivation. Nutr. Neurosci. 2003;6(4):237-246.

  6. Stock AK, Colzato L, Beste C. On the effects of tyrosine supplementation on interference control in a randomized, double-blind placebo-control trial. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2018;28(8):933-944.

  7. Thomas, J. R., Lockwood, P. A., Singh, A., and Deuster, P. A. Tyrosine improves working memory in a multitasking environment. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 1999;64(3):495-500.

  8. Mahoney, C. R., Castellani, J., Kramer, F. M., Young, A., and Lieberman, H. R. Tyrosine supplementation mitigates working memory decrements during cold exposure. Physiol Behav. 11-23-2007;92(4):575-582.

  9. Shurtleff, D., Thomas, J. R., Schrot, J., Kowalski, K., and Harford, R. Tyrosine reverses a cold-induced working memory deficit in humans. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 1994;47(4):935-941.

  10. van Spronsen FJ, van Rijn M, Bekhof J. Phenylketonuria: tyrosine supplementation in phenylalanine-restricted diets. Am J Clin Nutr 2001;73:153-7.

  11. Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine. The Role of Protein and Amino Acids in Sustaining and Enhancing Performance. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999. Available at: http://www.nap.edu/books/0309063469/html/.

  12. Roberts SA, Thorpe JM, Ball RO, Pencharz PB. Tyrosine requirement of healthy men receiving a fixed phenylalanine intake determined by using indicator amino acid oxidation. Am J Clin Nutr 2001 Feb;73:276-82.

  13. Meyers, S. Use of neurotransmitter precursors for treatment of depression. Altern Med Rev 2000;5(1):64-71.

  14. Rasmussen, D. D., Ishizuka, B., Quigley, M. E., and Yen, S. S. Effects of tyrosine and tryptophan ingestion on plasma catecholamine and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid concentrations. J.Clin.Endocrinol.Metab 1983;57(4):760-763.

  15. Bjork JM, Grant SJ, Chen G, Hommer DW. Dietary tyrosine/phenylalanine depletion effects on behavioral and brain signatures of human motivational processing. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2014;39(3):595-604.

  16. Reinstein, D. K., Lehnert, H., and Wurtman, R. J. Dietary tyrosine suppresses the rise in plasma corticosterone following acute stress in rats. Life Sci. 12-9-1985;37(23):2157-2163.

  17. Colzato LS, Jongkees BJ, Sellaro R, van den Wildenberg WP, Hommel B. Eating to stop: tyrosine supplementation enhances inhibitory control but not response execution. Neuropsychologia. 2014;62:398-402.

  18. Steenbergen L, Sellaro R, Hommel B, Colzato LS. Tyrosine promotes cognitive flexibility: evidence from proactive vs. reactive control during task switching performance. Neuropsychologia. 2015;69:50-5.

  19. Soranzo A, Aquili L. Fear expression is suppressed by tyrosine administration. Sci Rep. 2019;9(1):16073.

  20.   O'Brien, C., Mahoney, C., Tharion, W. J., Sils, I. V., and Castellani, J. W. Dietary tyrosine benefits cognitive and psychomotor performance during body cooling. Physiol Behav. 2-28-2007;90(2-3):301-307.

  21. Deijen, J. B. and Orlebeke, J. F. Effect of tyrosine on cognitive function and blood pressure under stress. Brain Res Bull 1994;33(3):319-323.

  22. Tumilty L, Davison G, Beckmann M, Thatcher R. Failure of oral tyrosine supplementation to improve exercise performance in the heat. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2014;46(7):1417-25.


— Kevin Bunting Jr.
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