Glycine: The Cheapest Anti-Aging Supplement That Actually Works

Dr. Leonid Kim explains glycine’s role in anti-aging:

The essential non-essential

Glycine is a “non-essential” amino acid (i.e., our body is able to synthesize it, so we don’t die quickly and horribly if it’s not in our diet, which is what happens if “essential” amino acids are missing) that’s nonetheless essential (in the sense of being necessary) for many things including collagen formation, liver support, neurotransmitter regulation, and glutathione production, which latter protects your cells from oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage—in other words, aging.

A quick side-note about glutathione: glutathione is made from glutamate, cysteine, and glycine; glycine and cysteine are often rate-limiting, so low levels of either can reduce your antioxidant capacity

And a side-side-note about cysteine: cysteine is unstable and often in short supply during stress or illness; n-acetylceysteine (NAC) delivers usable cysteine, allowing glycine to complete glutathione synthesis—this is why the combined approach (glyNAC) is sometimes preferred.

That said, glycine alone is typically enough for healthy younger people using it mainly for sleep, while glyNAC may be more appropriate if you have insulin resistance, diabetes, fatty liver, PCOS, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, chronic inflammation, or an autoimmune condition.

As for what to expect:

• Metabolic and anti-inflammatory actions: evidence suggests glycine can help with inflammation and can even become conditionally essential during metabolic disease in particular, illness in general, and/or chronic inflammation. Glycine levels also tend to be lower in people with insulin resistance or other metabolic syndrome considerations, so may benefit extra from supplementing in those cases, too.
• Sleep effects: glycine before bed can improve sleep quality by helping you fall asleep more quickly, cooling your core temperature, calming orexin (wakefulness) receptor neurons, regulating serotonin, and supporting full muscle relaxation during REM sleep, for greater restfulness.

As for dosing if doing it one way or the other:

• Dosing for glycine: the most studied dose is 3 g taken 30–60 minutes before sleep; it tastes sweet, dissolves easily in water, and is generally well tolerated; very high doses used in schizophrenia studies (40–90 g per day) looked tolerable short-term but aren’t advisable due to unclear long-term safety and possible neurobehavioral or cardiovascular concerns.
• Dosing for glyNAC: published human studies typically use 100 mg/kg glycine + 100 mg/kg NAC per day (about 7 g of each for a 70-kg person), usually split into two doses; many people start around 3 g per day and increase slowly.

For more on all of this, enjoy:

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Want to learn more?

You might also like:

• The Sweet Truth About Glycine
• N-Acetyl Cysteine For The Liver & More
• Why You Can’t Skimp On Amino Acids

Take care!