Tag : Metabolism

Washington: A new study found that taking the amino acid lysine, as an over-the-counter dietary supplement, protects laboratory animals from kidney injury. The study, Associate Professor Markus Rinschen from Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies and Department of Biomedicine, was primarily conducted on rats with high blood pressure - hypertension - and associated kidney disease. But a small pilot study confirms that the amino acid could have a similar effect in humans, without definite evidence for clinical effects on kidney disease. "We discovered that there is an accelerated transformation of the amino acid lysine in humans and animals with kidney disease. And the study shows that the intake of lysine protects the kidneys and prevents hypertensive kidney disease rather effectively, at least in animal models" explains Markus Rinschen. Side effects still unknown It is estimated that up to 10 per cent of the adult population suffers from chronic kidney disease, although often mild and without symptoms. The most frequent causes of kidney disease and kidney failure are diabetes or high blood pressure, and the consequence is a much higher risk of heart attack or stroke. However, Markus Rinschen assesses that he will not be able to start treating patients in the clinic for at least five years, and he stresses that it is too soon for people with kidney diseases to run out and buy lysine tablets. "We don't know the side effects or the underlying mechanisms yet, and human metabolism is much more complex than a rat's metabolism," he says. "We need to conduct more research into animal models because we have not yet clarified the dominant mechanism behind the result. We found three different mechanisms, but we don't know whether one, two, or ...