Lysine: An Amino Acid That Keeps Viruses At Bay?

I am forever skeptical of big claims and new fangled “discoveries”. This is especially true in the realm of the health world where something new is suddenly the greatest thing since sliced bread. Every doctor, chiropractor, and midwife I have seen in the past decade have experienced my skepticism in the form of the incessant “whys” I tend to ask.

So when a claim is made about a food or supplement I tend not to really believe it until I see it. Which means I also tend to do a lot of experimenting.

One such theory crossed my path a couple of years ago. I believe the original source was a Dr. Tent lecture concerning viruses. He proposed, quite confidently I might add, that an amino acid called arginine tends to feed viruses while its counterpart lysine tends to starve them. I thought that was interesting so I tried to recall what I could of amino acids and how they interact with viral replication in the body from some of my biochemistry classes. It turns out that while I used to be able to draw all of the amino acid structures, my recollection of that and much else has long since faded to the background.

So I looked it up on the internet… and that’s pretty much always a mess, isn’t it? Simultaneous to this we ordered a bottle of lysine, since it is fairly inexpensive as supplements go, and I tend to put quite a bit of stock into anecdotal evidence. It turns out that both through our research and experience with the supplement, I do believe that keeping arginine in check and taking in extra lysine can help ward off and shorten the lifespan of a virus. Again, that is just my experience and I am no medical professional.

What got me thinking about this was how most of our family came down with a virus recently. All of the children fell prey to it throughout the week. All week I was bolstering my immune system with lysine, elderberry, garlic and other natural supplements. But finally by Friday it took hold of me… right after I forgot myself and ate some oats and peanut butter, two foods very high in arginine.

It sounds like a coincidence, I know. But this has been the pattern when we are faced with a virus over the past few years. So now we try to cut arginine-rich foods from our diet and take extra lysine and lysine-rich foods when we are fighting something off. So that’s my not-so-scientific explanation of why I think it makes a difference. Now here are the foods to eat and avoid.

Arginine-Rich Foods

These guys are the ones you want to avoid when you are exposed to or are fighting off a virus.

• Most grains except white rice, buckwheat, and amaranth. Oats – my favorite grain – are particularly high in arginine as are brown rice and whole wheat.
• Most nuts and seeds. This includes peanut butter and almonds.
• Most legumes.
• Chocolate. Yep, I know.

Lysine-Rich Foods

These are the foods you want to tank up on and replace the arginine-rich foods with.

• Grass-fed animal products, particularly cultured dairy and aged cheeses.
• Fruits & Vegetables.

Further Resources

To be fair, this is an oversimplification. There is actually a balance of lysine and arginine and your body needs and uses both of these amino acids. For a complete picture of that ratio in a particular food this chart is a great reference. Note that you’ll want to toggle on “order of foods from lowest to highest L-lysine amount” and scroll to the bottom to see the foods highest in lysine and lowest in arginine.

We generally both eliminate arginine-rich foods and supplement with additional lysine when we suspect a viral challenge. For further reading on the role of arginine in viral replication, this article has a lot of good research.

Finally, this is the lysine (affiliate link) that we have generally taken in supplement form.