Can Phenylalanine Cause High Blood Pressure?
Read below or choose another question.
Dear Karl,
I think your site is really fascinating! I know there are a lot of products that are frauds (I get their hype in the mail on the time). I looked through your ingredient list for Life Glow and have a question about it.
The amino acid in your product, L-Phenylalanine - I had read that it should not be used by people with high blood pressure. My pressure is sometimes borderline depending on stress, etc. Of course, the amount in your product is low - 200 mg. and I wondered what the experience of your clients has been in terms of this and if the product increased blood pressure or in actuality brought it down for most people.
Thanks.
Sara,
Dear Sara,
Re: L-Phenylalanine.
I haven't heard about this possible effect on blood pressure. I'd be glad to research it further. Phenylalanine is actually a non-addictive natural tranquilizer and I would think it would cause blood pressure to go lower. I'll look further.
Since there are 43 ingredients in Life Glow hardly anyone could single out this amino acid as the cause of any reaction -- and I don't often get any reports of blood pressure going up!
I have just added about 100 pages to my web site -- all about Phenylalanine. Click Here to view those studies.
I'll get back to you.
Regards,
Karl Loren
Dear Mr. Loren:
Thanks for checking this out: Here is what I have on it that I thought might be of interest to you:
From: The Doctors' Vitamin and Mineral Encyclopedia by Sheldon Saul Hendler
Reported to Negative Claims:
1. Can dangerously elevate blood pressure. This has been reported in a few individuals taking L-Phenylalanine.
2. Dangerous in combination with some anti-depressant drugs containing monoamine oxidase inhibitors should definitely avoid L-Phenylalanine supplements. This combination could cause dangerously high blood pressure.
3. Contraindicated in persons with PKU or pregnancy
4. May promote growth of pigmented melanoma if you have a melanoma. L-Phenylalanine does not produce melanomas but may help nourish them once they develop.
From: Super Supplements, by Michael Rosenbaum
L-Phenylalanine may constrict blood vessels, it should not be used by persons with high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease.
From: Natural Health, Natural Medicine by Andrew Weil:
People with high blood pressure should be cautious about taking the L-form of this amino acid, it may aggravate that condition. DL-Phenylalanine, also known as DLPA is a mixture of the two forms and is less likely to raise blood pressure.
From: The Vitamin Bible by Earl Mindell
Phenylalanine is non-addictive but can raise blood pressure. Most people with high blood pressure can take Phenylalanine after meals.
The book Prescription for Natural Healing again warms about taking this if a person has hypertension.
Hope this is of interest to you
: ) Sara
Dear Sara,
I am taking the liberty of publishing your original letter and my reply, and your next message and my reply amongst the Frequently Asked Questions on my web site. Take a look.
Interesting data.
I also know a bit more about Phenylalanine that is probably not found in "traditional" studies.
For instance, "ketosis" is a condition of the urine in which undigested proteins appear. This is almost always perceived as dangerous. Yet the best diet I've ever found is the Atkins Diet which deliberately produces ketosis -- meaning that protein excess to the body's needs are leaving the body (undigested) (as ketones) in the urine -- ketosis.
If one eats carbohydrates at the same time, thus allowing the body to produce insulin, these excess proteins would be converted into energy or fat -- with an all-protein diet these excess proteins are, instead, expelled.
Thus, healthy weight loss. It depends on eating few carbohydrates.
Few scientists accept this and ALWAYS see ketosis as harmful. Thus, you get conclusions about ketosis which may not be true, and thus any undigested protein can produce ketosis, if taken in large enough quantity -- but definitely not always harmful.
Also, there is a poorly recognized function of amino acids -- when they are in excess of the body's needs. In other words, if you take ANY amino acid in exactly the right proportion (like the protein balance in an egg), ALL of the amino acids are used for constructing tissue (bone, muscle, etc.).
If you take lots of protein and it is out of balance, then that part which is in excess of the perfect protein balance is "used" by the body as a separate "free form amino acid." As such each amino acid has different impacts on the body -- all of these poorly recognized by standard drug-oriented science.
For instance, when you take cysteine excess to the perfect protein balance, the excess cysteine serves to "chelate" toxic metals -- thus the whole mechanism of "oral chelation" with 1,000 mg of daily cysteine. usually that amount of cysteine is far in excess of the perfect balance of amino acids.
Drug-oriented scientists hardly accept this. I do!
Scientists often get cause and effect mixed up. They see excess Phenylalanine in the blood, or in the urine, and they also see hypertension, or any other problem.
They often jump to the wrong conclusion that the excess substance in the urine is the CAUSE of the other problem. This approach is limited and blinded by the subsidies paid by drug interests for medical education and continuing research.
The sources you mention are drug-oriented sources, I suspect. Even Earl Mindell is one of them -- perhaps on the fringe, but more interested in selling his books than finding the truth.
I'll continue to pursue this subject, but the entire search will not be quick or early.
Finally, Phenylalanine is very effective in helping get over addictions to medical drugs -- the psychiatric drugs -- and these psychiatric drugs have more money behind them than any others -- because they do so much harm they need vast sums to hide the disasters they cause. So, much of "health science" is upside down because so many scientists are confused by the implanted lies they get in medical school.
Whenever anyone recommends against phenylalanine I suggest you see if they also believe in "chemicals to adjust the mind!" That is an evil concept that denies man any spiritual nature -- that says that "man is an animal, and chemicals are the only causes of change in his body or mind."
There is more information just below. My final conclusion is that the amount of Phenylalanine in Life Glow Plus, or in Super Life Glow, is too low at 200 mg to cause any concern about it increasing high blood pressure.
For copies of 100 scientific studies about Phenylalanine, CLICK HERE.
In fact there is a recent study below that shows this substance can decrease blood pressure.
Regards,
Karl Loren
______________________________________-
Phenylalanine
L-phenylalanine is an essential amino acid (cannot be produced by the body) and thus must be obtained through the diet. Phenylalanine is used in different biochemical processes to produce neurotransmitters, dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine. It is claimed but not proven that phenylalanine can promote sexual arousal, and there is evidence that phenylalanine can increase mental alertness (Grevet et al. 2002) and release hormones affecting appetite. D-phenylalanine has been shown to inhibit the metabolism of opiate-like substances called enkephalins in the brain. It is claimed that DL-phenylalanine is effective in the treatment of chronic pain (Walsh et al. 1986; Russell et al. 2000). There is some evidence that phenylalanine can help to overcome alcoholism and other drug addictions.
There have been reports that L-phenylalanine can promote high blood pressure in those predisposed to hypertension. Therefore, it is important to start off using moderate doses of phenylalanine, about 500 mg a day, and slowly work up to 1500 mg a day. Monitoring in the first few months on phenylalanine can detect blood pressure increases in the minority of people who will have this symptom. In fact, a Chinese study demonstrated the possible implication of phen-ylalanine in hypertension. The study looked at rat offspring whose parents and grandparents had essential hypertension (without known cause or preexisting renal disease) and stroke and compared them to those without a genetic predisposition to essential hypertension. By comparing the radioactive counts of phenylalanine and concentration in blood and tissue after administration of a phenylalanine substance, the researchers found that "A unique aberrant of metabolic kinetics of phenylalanine might be implicated in the inherited pathogenesis of essential hypertension and stroke . . . ." (Zhao et al. 2001).
Phenylalanine can promote the cell division of existing malignant melanoma cells. If you have melanoma, or any other form of cancer for that matter, avoid phenylalanine. According to a study in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, three patients with metastatic melanoma and three with metastatic breast cancer took part in a study that involved a diet of phenylalanine and tyrosine administered at a very low dose (10 mg/kg/day for 1 month). The results were not good. Researchers reported that all the patients experienced anxiety and depression and other side effects. They also lost weight. The authors of this pilot study concluded: "Low phenylalanine and tyrosine diets do not appear to be a viable treatment option for patients with advanced cancer" (Harvie et al. 2002).
Persons who have PKU (phenylketonuria) cannot use phenylalanine. This includes those born with a genetic deficiency that prevents them from metabolizing phenylalanine (Walter et al. 2002).
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J Cardiovasc Pharmacol. 2004 Jun;43(6):758-63. |
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