Tyrosine for ADHD?

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Not only is tyrosine one of the 20 fundamental amino acid building blocks for making proteins, but it is also an immediate precursor of the neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine. The first step in this process, the conversion of tyrosine to L-Dopa, is the rate limiting step, which means the availability of tyrosine has the power to influence how much dopamine gets made in the brain.

In healthy but stressed individuals, single doses of tyrosine help improve working memory, with some data showing that it can also help impulse control and other executive functions as well. The only published studies on tyrosine for ADHD suggest that it might be of limited help in reducing ADHD symptoms.

Limited research on rodents and humans indicates that excessively low or high levels of tyrosine can both adversely affect dopamine synthesis, and a few studies indicate that when tyrosine is given in too high a dose, it can impair cognitive functions, particularly in elderly adults. However, the high doses in those studies (200 mg/kg/day) or 16 gms a day, are considerably higher than most people are likely to get through diet (usually 1-2 grams a day) or from taking just a few pills of tyrosine (most commonly in 500-1000 mg dosages).

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Videos Mentioned:

Rate Limiting Steps Inform Neurochemistry:

References:

An open trial of L-tyrosine in the treatment of attention deficit disorder, residual type (1987)

Effect of tyrosine on attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (1988)

The effects of phenylalanine and tyrosine levels on dopamine production in rat PC12 cells. Implications for treatment of phenylketonuria, tyrosinemia type 1 and comorbid neurodevelopmental disorders (2023)

Food for thought: association between dietary tyrosine and cognitive performance in younger and older adults (2019)

Behavioral and cognitive effects of tyrosine intake in healthy human adults (2015)

No Tryptophan, Tyrosine and Phenylalanine Abnormalities in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (2016)

Exogenous tyrosine potentiates the methylphenidate-induced increase in extracellular dopamine in the nucleus accumbens: a microdialysis study (1991)

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Psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and author John Kruse, MD, PhD presents practical, actionable, well-researched information about treatment options that scientists and clinicians recommend for adult ADHD and other mental health conditions.

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