Tyrosine is a non-essential amino acid which the body can produce from the amino acid phenylalanine. Tyrosine is important to the structure of almost all of the proteins in your body and is a precursor of various hormones and neurotransmitters. Melanin, the skin and hair pigment, is a derivative of tyrosine.
Stress
Because your body uses tyrosine to produce adrenal stress hormones and neurotransmitters, consuming it before a high-stress activity can be help you stay calm. Tyrosine may also be able to prevent declines in mental performance in sleep-deprived people and relieve fatigue and stress resulting from intense physical activity.
Depression
Your body can convert tyrosine into the mood-affecting neurotransmitter norepinephrine. Tyrosine may be especially beneficial to women taking oral contraceptives. These women have comparatively low levels of tyrosine, which may be related to depression some women experience when taking birth-control pills.
Other Benefits
Alcoholics are often deficient in neurotransmitters which allow nerve cells to pass messages of pain, touch and thought from cell to cell. As an amino acid that helps create neurotransmitters, tyrosine may be able to reduce stress in alcoholics, as well as relieve symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. Tyrosine may also be useful in relieving symptoms associated with Parkinson's disease.
Deficiency
People with phenylketonuria, a rare genetic disorder--also known as PKU or Folling's disease--that results in an amino acid imbalance in the body, may suffer from a tyrosine deficiency. People who are depressed or those who suffer from kidney disease may also suffer from a lack of tyrosine and other amino acids.
Warnings
Though tyrosine supplements have no known long-term side effects, it is unknown whether long-term use of L-tyrosine is safe. However, like any dietary supplement, tyrosine may react with other supplements or medications. You should therefore contact your doctor before consuming tyrosine.
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