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macrumors 603
Original poster
Jun 12, 2006
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norcal
what do they do?

internet sites that sell them usually say "dietary supplement"
 
That's because that's what they are. Supplements. Lysine is an essential amino acid and comes from tons of different sources, mostly legumes and a few other veggies. Helps build muscle mass and it plays a role in calcium absorption. Beta-glucan is a sugar that can be found in whole-wheats, brans and mushrooms, and has been shown to boost the immune system.

Wikipedia things like this, like I did for b-glucan.
 
Muldoon: What about the lysine contingency? We could put that into effect!
Dr. Ellie Sattler: What's that?
John Hammond: It is absolutely out of the question.
Ray Arnold: The lysine contingency - it's intended to prevent the spread of the animals is case they ever got off the island, but we could use it now. Dr. Wu inserted a gene that makes a single faulty enzyme in protein metabolism. Animals can't manufacture the amino acid lysine. Unless they're continually supplied with lysine by us, they'll slip into a coma and die.
Dr. Ellie Sattler: How could we cut off the lysine?
Ray Arnold: No real trick to it. Just stop running the program, leaving them unattended.
Dr. Ian Malcolm: How long before they become comatose?
Ray Arnold: It would be totally painless - they'd just slip into unconsciousness and die.
Dr. Ian Malcolm: How long until they slip into unconsciousness?
Ray Arnold: Hmm... seven days, more or less.
Dr. Ellie Sattler: Seven days? Seven days? Oh, that's great. Clever!
Dr. Ian Malcolm: That'll be a first - man and dinosaur all die together. John's plan.
John Hammond: People are dying! Mr. Arnold, will you please shut down the system.
Ray Arnold: OK, but... you asked for it. Hold on to your butts!
[switches the mainframe off]

thats all i ever think of when I hear Lysine
 
thats all i ever think of when I hear Lysine

I remember that. Lysine is an essential amino acid—most vertebrates can't synthesize it themselves anyhow. But hey, it sounded pretty credible in the movie coming from Samuel J. Jackson ... hold on to your butts! :)
 
The "L" means that is the L isomer, one of the two mirror images. For example, your right hand is the same as your left hand, but you cannot superimpose you right hand on your left hand. They are equal but backwards and some chemical structures can demonstrate that same quality. All proteins are composed of L-form amino acids.

Lysine is one of two purely ketogenic amino acids...
Which means if you have a pyruvate dehyrogenase deficiency (congenital or acquired as in alcoholic Vitamin B1 deficiency) having Lysine around will allow you to continue to generate energy via ketogenesis.

That said, I don't know of any particular benefit to supplementing Lysine. You'll probably just metabolize it into BUN and excrete it in urine.

I'll be honest, I did not know what beta-glucans were (specifically) before I looked them up on wikipedia. But it sounds like they are just polysaccharides (sugars) composed of glucose. They are a heterogenous group of polys that can demonstrate chains and branching much like how the body stores glucose as glycogen. The difference I can see is that glycogen is linked via alpha bonds (for which we have specific enzymes) and Beta-glucans are obviously beta linked. What the hell does this mean? I dunno. Perhaps we have beta-glucosidases, but chances are this is just another compound that is "just passing through" on its way to the porcelian repository.

Hope this helps.
 
Acutally, to be frank, the Wikipedia article on b-glucans reads like a piece of propaganda. I'm not going to credential my comment, because I currently do not have the resume to do so. That said, just from reading through the article I am skeptical of this "nutri-cutical".

β-glucan is a well-known biological response modifier (BRM)

Re: Cancer applications...it sounds like b-glucan just provoking the immune system and in so doing causing tumor cell destruction. That is non-specific anti-cancer therapy to say the least.

Re: Radiation exposure...it sounds like b-glucan is again being used to non-specifically stir up the immune system, which sounds great given that radiation exposure causes myelosuppression (immuno suppression). But I would rather have the radiation damaged cells die off and be replaced with healthy cells rather than stirring up a hornet's nest of radiation damaged/dying cells.

Re: Infection prevention...Citations 20, 21, and 22 are at least 10 years old. The Phase III trial that was cited does not specify (at least not in its abstract) how it was administered and I think that its probably PO not IV. So that would mean that the colon cancer patients essentially recieved preoperative and postoperative fiber. If that helps reduce infections, then yay. But realize that it may be modifying biological responses only by increasing gastric motility.

I'd wager that Metamucil does the same thing, without having the pretty, technical sounding name.

/rant

//back to studying
 
L-lysine is an important amino that can not be made in the body systems of animals. Solely plant life and also bacterias have the capability to syntesize this really important amino from the aspartic acid. Amino lysine is a ingredient of just about all health proteins present in the body system. It really is located in a smaller volume in cereals, despite the fact that pulses tend to be a substantial supply of amino lysine. A few essential vegetable sources of amino acid lysine happen to be soyabean, typical beans, lentils, zoysia grass gourd, and even green spinach. Aside from those, beef, specially beef, and additionally chicken breast, chicken eggs, dairy products and a few seafood such as cod as well as sardines tend to be the wealthy sources of amino lysine.



Lack of L-Lysine



A insufficiency of amino acid lysine can cause the growth of kidney stones and various other health conditions for instance a sick stomach, faintness, reduced appetite, low energy, anemia as well as conditions related to the reproductive system. A low levels of amino acid lysine might also bring about a low-level of the thyroid hormones, asthma attack and additionally longer infections. As it's a important amino, their deficit may hinder the ordinary speed of development and growth. Nevertheless, we could acquire the essential level of l lysine benefits and side effects. It holds along with carbohydrates and for that reason, in the case of significant consumption of high sugar cereals, the human body finds it hard to absorb amino lysine. In these instances, one could consider amino acid lysine nutritional supplements.
 
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