It really should come as no surprise when I say that this conversation is complicated. L-Tyrosine has lately been making headway in lots of nootropic blends or capsules, with their sellers saying that since it’s the precursor to dopamine, it’s going to help our ADHD.

If only life was that simple.

Anyway.

Let’s chat about the actual research we have on this topic!

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L-Tyrosine and ADHD

Like I mentioned before, the reason why a lot of people are currently selling L-tyrosine is because of its relationship with dopamine. Tyrosine is an amino acid that we get through our food. Once it crosses the blood brain barrier, it can turn into the dopamine we need for our brains. (If it doesn’t cross the blood brain barrier, it turns into body dopamine, but that’s a separate conversation).

Therefore, it makes sense that if high-protein diets help ADHD (technically we don’t have specific data on this, but in general our use of protein in our bodies is different than neurotypicals and may benefit more than them…again, different topic), supplementing with the amino acids should help too!

Right?

Well, it’s a little bit more complicated than this.

First off, what even is L-Tyrosine?

L-tyrosine is a synthetic (AKA man-made) version of the amino acid tyrosine. It’s typically made in a lab, just like most supplements, where they either chemically synthesize it from other similar molecules or ferment it with tyrosine-producing bacteria. Either way, it’s not natural, even though that’s a fun claim most people like to make about it.

To be clear, I think that synthetic versions are just fine. It just is one of my few random annoyances about the multi-billion dollar wellness industry. Once you start seeing the sales tactics, it’s hard to un-see it.

Does L-tyrosine work?

For ADHD? Not really, according to our research.

That being said, it’s also not the best research. The studies we have were done in very small population sizes (think 12 people or less) and didn’t use placebo. One study found that it helped about 75% of the participants, but it stopped helping after a few weeks. The other study found that it didn’t help at all.

Based on these two studies, in all honesty it would be difficult to get funding for more research on it for ADHD specifically. Since the preliminary studies didn’t show much of anything, it’s unlikely that others will. That being said, there are other studies on L-tyrosine that I’d like to share as well.

Based on all this, what we really see is that it seems like L-Tyrosine supplements may indeed help some areas of ADHD; however, it seems mainly limited to stressful or cognitively-demanding situations. This data coupled with the data on ADHD makes me question how much exactly L-tyrosine is helping people in social media and how much of it is expectation effects based on how much money they’ve spent on it.

Even so, I do want to talk about genetics really quick. One study found that people with T/T homozygotes on the C957T genotype in the DRD2 gene tend to respond better to L-Tyrosine supplementation . . . and guess which population tends to experience this genetic polymorphisms more than others? (I’ll give you a hint…it’s us).

So, all together, what’s the verdict?

Honestly?

I personally wouldn’t buy it unless I know I have a tyrosine deficiency (which is highly unlikely, especially considering that people with ADHD don’t tend to have a deficiency).

It may help on a few days where I knew that I was going to be doing some cognitively-demanding work, such as reading all these heavy research papers. However, at the end of the day, it can be very expensive.

Also, you can just eat it.

Remember what I was talking about earlier, how tyrosine is an amino acid we get from protein? Yup - we can literally just eat our tyrosine! Maybe I’m just a stickler for food sources of these supplements, probably born out of my rural upbringing, but food is absorbed so much better by our bodies and is way cheaper anyway.

One of the best ways to start is by simply making sure you’re eating breakfast every day (ideally with a protein source - thankfully, protein powder works great for ADHD symptoms according to this study!). We see that eating breakfast is one of the best predictors for ADHD symptom severity that day, beyond stress. It’s why I never skip, even when I want to.

It takes a lot of time and practice, but you got it!

P.S. if you want to know what to test for at the doctor’s office to see if nutrients are impacting your ADHD symptoms, don’t forget to join the Nutrimind Community to get access to the ADHD Nutrient Testing Masterlist! It’s available in the higher tier at this time ($13/month).

Thanks for reading!

If you have any thoughts, questions, or comments, be sure to shoot me a DM on Instagram @Nutrimindcoach or simply reply to this email. I LOVE hearing from you!

This week on the Nutritional Mental Health Podcast, I’ve compiled the data on the hypocrisy of the MAHA Commission in the United States. If you want to learn How MAHA Makes America Sicker, It’s available on podcast platforms + YouTube.