Strengthen the immune system: Amino acids

"Lysine. We gave them lysine!" The parents of a friend, who are over 80 years old, were hospitalised in 2021 with a severe Covid-19 infection and recovered surprisingly quickly. They were discharged after just three days.

Naturally, he wanted to know what had caused the rapid recovery and was told "lysine,"

Of course, I asked myself why something that boosts the immune system is not given to vulnerable people in risk groups, before they fall ill...but in any case I wanted to find out more about it and did some research.

What is lysine?

Lysine is one of several essential amino acids, i.e. an amino acid from which the body builds protein and which it cannot produce itself. It is found in its natural form in beef, salmon, eggs and pumpkin seeds, among other things.

Lysine plays a role in wound healing because it is involved in the formation of collagen, a building block of connective tissue, and also stimulates cell division. A lysine deficiency can lead to hair loss, reduced enzyme activity, growth disorders and a weakened immune system.

Strengthen the immune system against viruses with lysine

Lysine effectively strengthens the body against viruses. Here is an extract from a Specialist article

"It is known that L-lysine is important for the Mental stability and the Immune function significance. Animal experiments have shown that L-lysine significantly stimulates the proliferation of lymphocytes, the production of cytokines and the Antibodies reactivity.

L-lysine is also successfully used for Treatment of colds, flu and viral infections and is extremely effective in combination with vitamin C.

The antiviral properties of L-lysine are primarily based on its partial antagonistic effect on the amino acid L-arginine, which is responsible for the replication of viruses (e.g. Herpes simplex virus, Eppstein-Barr virus) is required.

Especially when the ratio of L-arginine to L-lysine is low, viral replication is suppressed and thus viral cytotoxicity is inhibited. In addition to the inhibition of arginine uptake into virus-producing cells, L-lysine also reduces the catalytic activity of the viral enzyme arginase, which leads to a depletion of the polyamines required for virus growth leads to.“

Lysine is not the only amino acid that the body needs. The Pharmaceutical Newspaper summarises which amino acids are important for a well-functioning immune system:

"Numerous illnesses are the result of a lack of vitamins and minerals. But amino acid deficiencies can also severely weaken the immune system. Glutamine probably plays a central role in the immune system. A low plasma glutamine level impairs the immune status. In particular, a deficiency of the branched-chain amino acids Leucine, isoleucine and valinebut also the other essential amino acids phenylalanine, tryptophan, methionine, lysine and threonine, can disrupt the immune system by lowering plasma glutamine levels."

The effect of lysine simply explained

As I don't know much about biochemistry, my well-informed friend explained it to me in layman's terms:

"Viruses don't like lysine. Multicellular organisms need lysine for nutrition, but unicellular organisms do not! Unicellular organisms are viruses, for example. They actually need a different amino acid, namely "arginine". If you offer them lysine, they confuse it with arginine and incorporate it incorrectly. They want to feed on it, but it leads to their death.

General Lysine activates the immune system and works specifically and explicitly against all coronaviruses!

Lysine is also very good for humans, it cleans the vein system and ensures increased Oxygen transport in the lungs.

This is why it is also very helpful in acute corona disease because the transport of oxygen from the alveoli into the blood depends on lysine. As soon as you take lysine, the oxygen saturation in the blood rises.

In Latin America, where people can't afford expensive medication, they also treat corona with lysine. It can also be taken preventively with the aim of strengthening the immune system in general and, in the event that you become infected with Covid-19, to prevent the immune system from overreacting."

He also explained:

"It is also particularly important for anyone who has lost their sense of taste during a coronavirus infection."

Caution: Lysine has a slightly blood-thinning effect.  So if you are taking blood thinners anyway, you need to discuss this with your doctor.

Regular intake of magnesium and vitamin C is important as a supplement. Lysine also needs vitamin B12 and magnesium as co-factors to ensure that it is well incorporated into the body. It should not be taken with coffee, but at the earliest two hours afterwards. It is best taken in the evening because it promotes cell renewal, which primarily takes place at night. "

Prophylaxis

Therapy with lysine can only be prescribed by doctors. Opinions differ as to whether lysine or other amino acids should be used as a prophylactic. Some are in favour of providing the body with sufficient vitamins and nutrients as a preventive measure, while others consider this to be nonsense.

My own doctor recommends that people with a weak immune system in particular take an infusion therapy with amino acids as a preventative measure before winter. These infusions contain lysine, among other things.

Patients who used to catch every bout of flu say they get through the winter without catching a cold. You can also buy lysine in powder or tablet form.

Orthomolecular medicine Dr Harald Stossier recommends for prophylaxis against corona and other flu-like illnesses as follows:

Oral dosage

• Vitamin C 2-6 g/day (up to the diarrhoea limit. My explanation: too much vitamin D leads to diarrhoea, if you notice that your bowel movements become more "dynamic", this is a good stop signal).
• Zinc 150 mg on the first day (5 capsules of 30 mg each), then reduce the dosage by 30 mg daily (i.e. 4-3-2 capsules of 30 mg each)
• L-lysine 1500 mg.
• Vitamin D 4-5000 units/day

Personally, I think it makes sense to see a doctor who is familiar with this to have a complete blood count done from time to time (once or twice a year), in which vitamins and micronutrients are also recorded and, if necessary, to compensate for deficiencies.

Food supplements as medicine?

A whole range of food supplements and vitamins such as Vitamin D seem to offer protection and strengthening before or during flu-like infections. However, there are relatively few substantial studies on this.

Professor Schreiber from the university hospital, who is currently conducting a study on vitamin B and corona himself, explains this in a Interview with Der Spiegel like this: "Nutritional studies are expensive because we normally need many thousands of study participants. Only a very large number can compensate for the fact that each person has very different requirements.

Normally, it is difficult to find 1000 test subjects who are freshly infected with the same pneumonia viruses. Our study costs more than 1.2 million euros - with only 1300 participants. That's a lot of money for a state university; we are hoping for funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Our study is not of interest to the pharmaceutical industry because the preparations cannot be protected by patents and the profit margin would be low.„

What I do myself

• I have a complete blood count to find out which vitamins and nutrients I am lacking.
• My doctor has given me a Amino acid infusion to strengthen my immune system.
• On the recommendation of my doctor, I bought natural Spermidine (not an amino acid, but a polyamine) from wheat germ, because this - at least in the test tube with a new Charité study - reduces the viral load of Sars-CoV-2 by 85%. Spremidine also promotes autophagy, i.e. the removal of old, dead cells, which studies have shown also leads to improved memory. That's not supposed to do any harm. The powder is simply added to muesli.

What you can do

• If possible Many and varied natural foods to provide your body with as many building blocks for the immune system as possible. The following foods are particularly rich in L-lysine: Meat and fish such as pork, beef or tuna, animal protein sources such as eggs and cheese, pulses such as lentils and soya beans.

• At the doctor's Blood count to have your blood analysed for trace elements, vitamins and micronutrients and, if necessary, replenish what is missing. Powders or oils are often better than capsules or tablets, which contain many additional substances.
• Online one Vital Profile - Questionnaire which will also give you information about what is missing in your body.

I find it exciting to deal with this.

And I think that in addition to the known protective measures against infection such as AHAL, we can and should use everything that strengthens our own body to cope with the virus in the best possible way.

To the "Strong immune system" series

Many people are in lockdown - tired. They are suffering emotionally, healthily and / or economically. When Coach I know that it is harmful when people feel that they can do nothing and are at the mercy of others. 

However, it is not the case that we are helplessly at the mercy of the virus. There are things we can do to reduce the likelihood of falling ill.

• Protection through distance: With AHAL and social distancing, we try to prevent the virus from getting to us
• Protection through the immune system: a Strong immune system helps to combat the virus effectively.

About how you can strengthen your immune system, e.g. with Vitamin D, is rarely mentioned in the press and politics. That's why I'm presenting tips in this series that anyone and everyone can do to strengthen their defences. 

Clearly: None of these tips alone will be able to fight all viruses completely. But they could help you and your immune defences to become perhaps 1% or more stronger. These could be the crucial 1%s that decide whether or not a virus catches you and possibly others as a result. 

When many of us improve our defences by 1% or 5% or 10% and become healthier overall, this could lead to an improvement in the incidence of infection in winter. That is my hope. 

You can find a collection of tips for strengthening the immune system in my free e-book Strengthen the immune system.