METHIONINE: Antidepressant, liver helper

When my mainstream colleagues read about a new drug that is a supposedly effective treatment for a given condition, they often await the okay to use it with the excitement of a child looking forward to birthday presents. I experience a similar enthusiasm with any word of a new, possibly groundbreaking natural substance. As this book goes to press, I’m anxiously awaiting the arrival of SAM.

SAM is s-adenosyl methionine, a metabolite of the standard amino acid L-methionine. In Italy, doctors have been administering it with good results to alleviate depression, inflammation liver disease and, sometimes, certain muscle pains. The US Food and Drug Administration, however, has not yet authorized the import of SAM, so I cannot personally confirm its value or recommend its use. I can only report, with ever-growing anticipation, the success of its use abroad.

Like taurine, N-acetyl cysteine and glutathione, methionine contains sulfur, which is as vital to our lives as any vitamin. Without enough sulfur, our bodies would be less able to make and utilize a number of the antioxidant nutrients. Methionine is also one of the body’s most important methyl donors. This means it is capable of giving off a single carbon atom with three tightly connected hydrogen atoms, a molecule we need for a diverse array of biochemical conversions throughout the body. Methionine reaches its full clinical potential, however, once the body transforms it into SAM, a much more effective methyl donor that seems to yield better clinical results.

Methionine itself remains valuable because our liver uses it to make SAM, as much as 8 grams of it every day, when conditions are ideal.

We know, though, that conditions are rarely ideal. Liver disease, osteoarthritis and the overuse of prescription drugs or over-the-counter medications can diminish the body’s SAM production. When that happens, supplements could prove to be of enormous value.

Depression
SAM’s major application is probably in alleviating depression. A dose of 800-1,600 mg per day helped to elevate mood and disposition among people who were moderately clinically depressed. Even major depression, once thought to be the exclusive domain of drug therapy, has responded remarkably well. Methionine itself has been widely used by nutri-tionally oriented psychiatrists for treating depression for several decades now.

Liver Disease
Supplements of both methionine and SAM can measurably improve how well the liver functions. For women to are on oral contraceptives or oestrogen replacement therapy. The nutrients help the liver to convert the stronger, more carcino- enic oestradiol into oestriol, a safer form of the female hormone that is associated with a lesser cancer risk.
A daily 1,600 mg dose of SAM has been remarkably effective against hepatitis or cirrhosis, according to the research. Because of its benefit to the liver and to emotional health, the amino acid would make a good addition to a nutrient-oriented rehabilitation programme for alcoholism. It helps even in advanced cases of liver disease (in a German case report, it reversed liver failure, a dreaded complication that threatens any hospitalized patient on total intravenous feedings)

Osteoarthritis
While they temporarily relieve aches and pains, aspirin and other analgesics often inflict gastric side effects and contribute to the deterioration of joints. Not SAM. Its antiinflammatory effects are well proven. In studies of more than twenty-two thousand people with osteoarthritis, it both decreased pain and encouraged joint healing. But no SAM takers complained of gastric side effects at therapeutic dosages.

Brain Disorders
Both methionine and SAM have demonstrated their worth in treating various neurological abnormalities. Methionine apparently enters the brain more easily, but SAM gets higher therapeutic marks. For a small group of people with Parkinson’s disease, a daily 5 gram methionine dosage reduced limb rigidity and, to a lesser degree, tremors, two common symptoms of the affliction. Adding some SAM to the prescription might have improved the results, because it is better at helping to make dopamine, the brain chemical that people with Parkinson’s lack.

Though far more investigative work is required, SAM also might offer hope to people with multiple sclerosis. One researcher noticed a low level of the nutrient in the spinal fluid of three children with MS and speculated that SAM is somehow i linked to the erosion of the protective myelin sheaths around the nerves of people with the disease.

Fibromyalgia
SAM’s anti-inflammatory influence would b appreciated by anyone who experiences these muscular pain of unclear origin. A daily 1 gram dosage worked for a sizable number of fibromyalgia sufferers in one study.

Chronic Fatigue
Fibromyalgia is a common complaint of people with chronic viral fatigue syndrome. A fascinating British study pointed to methionine and SAM as part of the right treatment. More than half of the twenty-one chronic fatigue sufferers were deficient in methionine, while no more than three of them lacked any other amino acid. Though I’ve been replenishing the methionine stores of my chronic fatigue patients, I wonder whether SAM might work better. At the very least, it promises to raise the depressed spirits of many people who suffer from this often neglected and dismissed condition.

SUPPLEMENT SUGGESTIONS

Most of us don’t need methionine supplements. Possible exceptions include strict vegetarians and anyone who follows a low- protein diet. People who use soya foods exclusively to meet their protein needs may also develop a methionine deficiency, because soya is low in the amino acid. For them and for anyone with a methionine-related illness, supplements could restore an important part of the body’s nutritional armour. It wouldn’t hurt to add taurine, cysteine and the other sulfur-containing amino acids, as well as vitamin B6 and folic acid.

Should you want to take advantage of SAM’s potential help against depression, Parkinson’s disease, liver disease, arthritis and the like, use methionine until SAM becomes generally available. For these serious conditions, you may have to take 1,500-4,000 mg of L-methionine in divided doses over the course of the day. When SAM is available, the dosages will probably be half that.