As interest in health supplements evolves, a new contender appears to challenge the dominance of multivitamins. Researchers suggest that a lesser-known supplement could significantly enhance resilience against severe illness or death following an injury or infection, potentially providing the body with an advantage during critical times.
The latest findings shed light on what scientists refer to as the “disease trajectory” and how simple dietary adjustments could help individuals navigate away from a rapid decline towards recovery.
“Our study demonstrates that minor biological variations, including dietary components, can significantly impact health outcomes,” stated Dr. Janelle Ayres, a professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the study’s lead author, in a recent announcement.
The research zeroed in on methionine, an essential amino acid that our body cannot synthesize and must obtain through diet.
Methionine is prevalent in various protein-rich foods, such as eggs, poultry, fish, and beef, as well as in plant-based items like Brazil nuts, sesame seeds, soybeans, tofu, lentils, and whole grains like quinoa. It’s also accessible in supplement form, commonly known as L-methionine.
This amino acid is crucial for several bodily functions, including protein synthesis, DNA regulation, and tissue repair. However, Ayres and her team were particularly focused on methionine’s role in moderating inflammation, which functions as the immune system’s initial alert system.
Whenever the body detects a threat, such as injury or infection, inflammation is triggered. Immune cells rush to the site, releasing chemical signals called pro-inflammatory cytokines to organize the response and initiate healing.
Yet, excessive inflammation can have detrimental effects.
When inflammation becomes unregulated, it risks harming healthy cells, potentially leading to organ damage and tissue death. This can result in severe symptoms and complications, such as fluid accumulation in the lungs.
If the immune response remains unchecked, it can evolve into chronic low-grade inflammation — a key factor in aging and ailments like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.
“Pro-inflammatory cytokines are often responsible for illness and mortality in many cases,” highlighted Dr. Katia Troha, a postdoctoral researcher in Ayres’s lab and the first author of the study.
“The immune system must carefully balance inflammation, attacking invaders without harming healthy cells. Our goal is to identify the mechanisms it employs, allowing us to target them to enhance patient outcomes.”
To explore this balance, researchers experimented with mice suffering from systemic inflammation due to the bacterium Yersinia pseudotuberculosis.
They quickly observed that the infected mice were consuming less food, indicating a metabolic shift.
Upon examining their blood, researchers found diminished levels of methionine.
This discovery led Troha to provide a new group of mice with methionine-enriched chow, which resulted in increased protection against the infection.
Delving deeper, the team identified that methionine was collaborating with a surprising ally: the kidneys.
The amino acid improved kidney filtration and blood flow, facilitating the excretion of excess inflammatory cytokines through urine.
Notably, this did not impair the mice’s immune response; their bodies could still combat infection without collateral damage.
The researchers then tested methionine on additional models, including sepsis and kidney injury, observing similar protective effects.
This indicates that methionine might hold broader promise for inflammatory conditions — particularly those involving kidney strain or failure.
“Our findings contribute to an expanding collection of evidence that everyday dietary components can serve as therapeutic agents,” Ayres remarked.
Despite the promising results, researchers caution that these findings are based on animal studies — so rushing to the supplement aisle is not advisable just yet.
The next steps involve further investigations into the mechanisms by which methionine operates, whether other amino acids provide similar benefits, and how these insights can be applied to human health.
“By examining these fundamental protective mechanisms, we unveil unexpected strategies to guide individuals on trajectories away from disease and towards health,” Ayres concluded. “In the future, it may be possible for something as straightforward as a dinner supplement to make a crucial difference in a patient’s survival.”
