Cold sores are painful lesions that form anywhere in the mouth--including on the insides of cheeks, on gums and even on the tongue, according to the National Institutes of Health. Cold sores can make it difficult to eat tough or crunchy foods. Antibiotics and other medications can be used to treat cold sores, but they may not be effective for everyone. Some people get cold sores so frequently that they worry about constantly taking antibiotics, and prefer to get rid of their cold sores without medications. Lysine is a natural supplement that can help.
What Causes Cold Sores?
According to the National Institutes of Health, cold sores are usually caused by biting your cheek, tongue or lip, by braces or by burning your mouth on a very hot food. The underlying cause of most cold sores, according to the National Institutes of Health, is the herpes simplex virus, which can live in your mouth or in your body for years without your knowing it. Less common causes of cold sores are low levels of vitamin B12 and autoimmune conditions.
Lysine and Cole Sores
Lysine is an amino acid naturally found in many foods that helps decrease cold sores. It does this by suppressing replication of the herpes simplex virus, which is most often the cause for cold sores, according to Herpes.com. If you have the herpes simplex virus but take lysine, it cannot replicate so it remains dormant in your body for up to years at a time without causing any more cold sores. Although lysine may not make the herpes simplex virus completely dormant, it may reduce the amount of cold sore occurrences.
Lysine in Foods
According to the website Herpes.com, foods rich in lysine include plain yogurt, cheese, milk, apples, pears, avocados and fish such as tuna and salmon. Daily products are the food group that contains the most lysine in general. For example, one serving of plain yogurt has about 706mg of lysine; one serving of Swiss cheese has about 733mg. Vegetarians and vegans who don't eat dairy products may need to supplement lysine if they can't get at least 12mg per kg of body weight per day, as recommended by the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Lysine Supplementation
The National Institutes of Health recommend taking a lysine supplement to cure cold sores. In fact, a clinical study reviewed on the website Medscape Today found that study participants who were given 1,000mg of lysine three times each day decreased the number of herpes outbreaks they had--as well as the duration and severity of outbreaks. This particular study involved testing lysine on herpes labialis, which is more virulent than the herpes simplex virus strain that causes cold sores. Another study reviewed on Medscape Today found doses as low as 500mg daily of lysine to reduce cold sores.
Opposition to Arginine
According to Herpes.com, the amino acid arginine works in opposition to lysine. Essentially, arginine promotes cell growth and renewal, which can promote the replication of the herpes simplex virus that causes cold sores. This means that whenever you eat a food that's high in arginine at the same time you eat a food high in lysine, you negate the effectiveness of lysine in its ability to inhibit cold sore growth. The lysine-to-arginine ratio compares how much lysine a food has to how much arginine a food has. The higher the lysine-to-arginine ratio, the better for curing cold sores.
