Amino acids do a lot of heavy lifting in the body, but one common amino acid has landed in an unexpectedly awkward spot. A recent study linked higher circulating levels of tyrosine with a shorter lifespan in men, with the researchers estimating an association of about 0.91 fewer years of life after accounting for phenylalanine.
That sounds alarming if the first thought is, “Wait, is tyrosine in everything?” Not quite, and there is an important distinction here: the research looked at tyrosine levels in the blood, not at whether someone ate a steak, scrambled eggs or a handful of almonds and suddenly shaved time off the calendar.
