\n
\n
![\"EarthSnap\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/earthsnap-banner-news.webp\")
\n<\/a><\/p>\n
Dr. Jie V. Zhao, an epidemiologist at the University of Hong Kong (HKU<\/a>), led a team that analyzed health and genetic data from more than 272,000 people enrolled in the UK Biobank, a large British health research database.<\/p>\n The team set out to test whether two related amino acids \u2013 tyrosine and its chemical precursor, phenylalanine \u2013 had any measurable connection to how long people live. Both are found naturally in protein-rich foods like meat, eggs, dairy, and soy.<\/p>\n To sharpen the analysis, the team also used a genetic approach \u2013 one that looks at inherited DNA differences to estimate cause and effect rather than relying on blood measurements that illness or other factors can distort.<\/p>\n The finding for men<\/p>\n At first, both amino acids appeared linked to a higher risk of early death. But when the team accounted for the overlap between the two, phenylalanine\u2019s association faded. Tyrosine\u2019s did not.<\/p>\n In men<\/a>, genetically higher tyrosine levels were associated with losing close to a year off their lifespan \u2013 about 0.9 years on average. Women showed no clear association.<\/p>\n That sex difference turned out to be one of the study\u2019s most striking results. Participants shared broadly similar diets and environments, yet the biological effects were not the same.<\/p>\n Why tyrosine affects aging<\/p>\n The exact mechanism isn\u2019t settled, but two possibilities stand out. One involves insulin resistance \u2013 a condition where cells stop responding normally to insulin, raising the risk of diabetes and other age-related diseases.<\/p>\n Prior research linked higher blood tyrosine to a greater chance of developing insulin resistance, which may help explain why elevated levels appear to speed up certain aspects of aging. <\/p>\n A study<\/a> from 2022 found this connection especially pronounced in people carrying excess weight.<\/p>\n Tyrosine is also the starting point for dopamine<\/a>, adrenaline, and noradrenaline \u2013 the chemicals that regulate how the body handles stress.<\/p>\n Those chemicals interact with sex hormones, which may partly explain why the life-shortening association is clearer in men than in women.<\/p>\n Restricting tyrosine intake in animals <\/p>\n Scientists had suspected for years that specific amino acids, rather than protein broadly, might drive the longevity benefits seen with lower-protein diets. Animal experiments began confirming it.<\/p>\n In fruit fly experiments, restricting tyrosine intake extended how long the animals lived \u2013 possibly by dialing down biological processes tied to aging \u2013 according to a study<\/a> published in 2024.<\/p>\n Researchers found a similar pattern in rodents. When researchers cut overall protein intake in rats, tyrosine concentrations in tissue dropped and the animals lived longer.<\/p>\n Until this study, no one had tested that pattern in humans at this scale. The results aligned with what the animal work had predicted.<\/p>\n Why men die sooner<\/p>\n Men die younger than women in nearly every country. In the United States, that gap reached nearly six years during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study<\/a> \u2013 the widest margin since 1996.<\/p>\n No single explanation accounts for this. But young men naturally carry higher circulating tyrosine than young women. <\/p>\n That gap in baseline levels, the new findings suggest, may be one metabolic piece of why men consistently die sooner.<\/p>\n The data holds up<\/p>\n Zhao\u2019s team ran the genetic<\/a> analysis multiple ways, applying different statistical methods to make sure the results weren\u2019t being skewed by outside factors. The direction of the association held across all of them. The findings were consistent.<\/p>\n Phenylalanine\u2019s apparent connection to lifespan largely reflects its chemical relationship to tyrosine. <\/p>\n Once the analysis accounted for tyrosine, phenylalanine\u2019s independent lifespan effect dropped out \u2013 though it retained separate associations with heart disease and cancer risk.<\/p>\n What this could change<\/p>\n Zhao is careful to note the study didn\u2019t directly test supplements. Blood tyrosine levels reflect genetics, diet, and metabolism. A single measurement captured years before death can\u2019t tell the whole story.<\/p>\n The findings carry an implicit warning for anyone using tyrosine supplements over the long term.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur study did not support the benefit of long-term use of tyrosine on lifespan,\u201d said Zhao.<\/p>\n That isn\u2019t a call to eliminate protein-rich foods \u2013 tyrosine is essential for normal function. But it does suggest researchers can now investigate whether moderate protein restriction or similar dietary approaches might improve healthy aging in men, a question now backed by human genetic evidence.<\/p>\n What this study establishes, for the first time in humans at this scale, is that tyrosine isn\u2019t just a brain chemical precursor with a performance upside. In men, chronically high levels appear to connect directly to how long they live.<\/p>\n The study is published in Aging<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n Like what you read?\u00a0Subscribe to our newsletter<\/a>\u00a0for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.<\/p>\n Check us out on\u00a0EarthSnap\u00a0<\/a>, a free app brought to you by\u00a0Eric Ralls\u00a0<\/a>and Earth.com.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every year, millions of people take amino acid supplements expecting to gain a mental edge. The pitch is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[102,6636,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-598787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-health","tag-nutrition","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}