Scientists found that men with higher levels of the substance in their blood tended to have shorter lifespans \u2014 but women don\u2019t appear to pay the same price. <\/p>\n
![\"Man](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/hands-water-man-medicine-house-141094925.jpg\")
A popular supplement may be linked to shorter lifespans in men, new research suggests. peopleimages.com \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
In the study, scientists from the University of Hong Kong and the University of Georgia analyzed health and genetic information from more than 270,000 people in the UK Biobank.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The researchers were focusing on two amino acids \u2014 phenylalanine and tyrosine \u2014 and whether they might play a role in aging.<\/p>\n
Both are essential building blocks for proteins, but tyrosine also helps the body make dopamine, adrenaline and other brain chemicals involved in mood, focus and stress response<\/a>.<\/p>\n Phenylalanine, meanwhile, is converted into tyrosine in the body. Both amino acids occur naturally in protein-packed foods<\/a> and are also commonly found in dietary supplements.<\/p>\n To investigate whether the nutrients play a role in longevity, the researchers first looked at participants\u2019 blood levels and compared them with their mortality and predicted lifespan.<\/p>\n They then used a genetic testing method called Mendelian randomization<\/a>, which involves looking at natural genetic differences between people to help determine whether one factor might actually cause another.<\/p>\n The team found that men with more tyrosine in their blood appeared to have shorter lifespans \u2014 with elevated levels associated with nearly a year shaved off their lives. Women, however, didn\u2019t appear to have the same link. <\/p>\n \u201cPhenylalanine showed no association with lifespan in either men or women after controlling for tyrosine,\u201d the study authors wrote.<\/p>\n Researchers don\u2019t yet fully understand why higher tyrosine levels might be linked to shorter lifespans in men, but they have a few ideas. <\/p>\n One involves insulin resistance<\/a>, a condition in which the body\u2019s cells become less responsive to insulin, the hormone that helps regulate blood sugar.<\/p>\n Tyrosine plays an important role<\/a> in the signaling process that allows insulin to tell cells to take up sugar from the bloodstream. While the amino acid is essential for normal cellular function, researchers have suggested that having too much tyrosine circulating in the blood could potentially disrupt that process.<\/p>\n Insulin resistance is associated with a range of health problems that become more common with age \u2014 including neurodegenerative diseases, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes \u2014 all of which can affect longevity.<\/p>\n Tyrosine may also play a role through the brain chemicals it helps produce, which are involved in mood and stress. <\/p>\n The researchers suggested that differences in these chemicals between the sexes could help explain why the link to shorter lifespan appeared in men but not women.<\/p>\n Taking things a step further, they theorized that tyrosine could play some role in the well-documented longevity gap between men and women<\/a>. However, they stressed that their study doesn\u2019t prove the amino acid is responsible for the difference in average lifespan<\/a>.<\/p>\n While notable, the findings don\u2019t mean you should dump your supplements down the drain. The researchers didn\u2019t directly test products that contain tyrosine, and there\u2019s no proof that taking them will shorten your life.<\/p>\n![\"Doctor](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/doctor-using-pencil-demonstrate-anatomy-138557640.jpg\")
Tyrosine is commonly touted as a powerful nutrient for improving memory, focus and stress response. Teeradej \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n