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DL-Phenylalanine, also known as DLPA, contains different forms of the essential amino acid Phenylalanine.
The “L” form is a natural substances normally found in protein rich foods. L-Phenylalanine is also thought to be helpful in boosting mood elevating chemicals in the brain like Dopamine and Norepinephrine.
The “D” form of this amino acid is made synthetically. D-Phenylalanine is thought to have an effect upon how the brain and nervous system interpret and respond to pain throughout the body.
DL-Phenylalanine is used to relieve cases of minor depression and other mood issues as well as and physical discomforts and pain. This supplement has also been used for opiate withdrawal symptoms. DLPA is also often combined with other mood boosting supplements and taken in a nootropic stack.
Mood
Focus
Energy- Precursor for the production of dopamine
- Supports mood & combats stress
- Boosts energy & mental focus
Top Phenylalanine Products* ❯DL-Phenylalanine Effects:
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DL-Phenylalanine is an electrically neutral amino acid and it is able to cross the blood-brain barrier and enter into the central nervous system quite easily.
This happens after it is absorbed through the intestines and undergoes a partial conversion process within the liver. Once there, it reaches the brain and has a number of different mechanisms of action.
For starters, it is known to be a precursor of another powerful amino acid, Tyrosine. Tyrosine is then used to produce several powerful neurotransmitters, including Dopamine and Norepinephrine. These brain chemical exert a powerful influence throughout the central nervous system, especially in regards to mood and movement.
Another way in which this supplement is thought to work is by the blocking of a particular enzyme and enzymatic process. This is also thought to relate to the increased levels of Dopamine and Norepinephrine that are seen when using DL-Phenylalanine.
It is also thought to actively bind to Glutamate receptor sites on your neurons. This makes DL-Phenylalanine a Glutamatergic nootropic and puts it into the class of Ampakines which are supplements that stimulate your AMPA receptors.
DL-Phenylalanine Benefits:
One of the main reasons people will use this supplement is as part of a program to fight chronic pain and improve mood.
Users report that DL-Phenylalanine can be an effective supplement to fight against the mood swings characteristic of PMS.
Other sources contend that it may be beneficial for increasing energy and mental alertness. However, if this is your main goal, there are likely other supplements that work better such as Noopept or Pramiracetam.
DL-Phenylalanine is considered to be effective in a nootropic stack with both of these compounds.
As far as helping with chronic pain, there are many users who swear by DL-Phenylalanine. This includes things such as muscle aches and persistent arthritis related pain.
It appears to accomplish this effect by blocking the actions of a pain-inducing protein called enkephalinase. There are also researchers who argue this supplement increases the effectiveness of narcotics and other types of pain medications.
Several clinical studies show that DLPA may be useful for easing symptoms of depression. It seems that the primary reason why DL-Phenylalanine (and the related Phenylethylamine) is able to elevate your mood comes from the increase in Dopamine and Norepinephrine levels. While this result is likely to vary from individual to individual, many reviews say that it helps to reduce stress and anxiety levels.
DLPA may also provide some relief to those suffering from ADHD and even Parkinson’s disease. There is research indicating that many people who suffer from ADHD have lower levels of key amino acids, including Phenylalanine.
Other researchers have observed that the ability of DL-Phenylalanine to enhance certain chemicals in the brain leads to improved concentration in ADHD patients. Also, limited research into Parkinson’s disease suggests that the supplement may improve rigidity, walking, speech, and even depression which are associated with this disease.
There are anecdotal reports of taking DLPA for opiate withdrawal treatment, but there is limited research into this use. According to some users, this supplement may help to improve depression experienced after detoxing from opiate drugs like Suboxone.
DL-Phenylalanine Dosage:
The amount of the recommended dosage for DLPA will be particularly dependent upon your goal or reason for using the supplement in the first place. For example, those seeking relief of depression can use 200 mg, taken in the morning.
Those looking for more general mood elevation in a broader nootropic stack would be recommended to use 100 mg. The studies for ADHD treatment mainly used 20 mg, but this is considered to be quite a low dosage. For Parkinson’s disease, the recommendation is between 200 and 500 mg.
As with other amino acid supplements, it is best to take DL-Phenylalanine on an empty stomach with water or juice about an hour before meals. You should also try and avoid high-protein foods within an hour or two of ingestion as well, since they may interfere with proper absorption.
DL-Phenylalanine Side Effects:
This supplement is regarded as extremely safe with only mild side effects having been reported. These include heart burn, nausea, and headaches.
Most people do not experience any negative effects when taking DL-Phenylalanine at recommended dosage levels. When used at extremely high levels (more than 1,500 mg per day) it is possible to experience numbness, tingling, or other signs of nerve damage.
It is also possible, but unlike, to see an increase in blood pressure. At large dosages, DL-Phenylalanine may interfere with the synthesis of Serotonin in your brain so you should always follow the suggested dosing guidelines.
DL-Phenylalanine Review:
DLPA can be an effective nootropic supplement with a wide range of benefits. While it is not one of the most commonly used nootropics, it does offer a number of positive effects related to mood, energy levels and motivation.
You may want to take it in a stack with other cognitive enhancement supplements from the Racetam family or consider stacking it with additional Dopaminergics like Sulbutiamine or Tyrosine. DL-Phenylalanine is legal to purchase in the United States and is available as a dietary supplement without a prescription.
- Tumilty L, Davison G, Beckmann M, Thatcher R. Acute oral administration of a tyrosine and phenylalanine-free amino acid mixture reduces exercise capacity in the heat. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2013
- Bjork JM, Grant SJ, Chen G, Hommer DW. Dietary tyrosine/phenylalanine depletion effects on behavioral and brain signatures of human motivational processing. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2014
- Linssen AM, Riedel WJ, Sambeth A. Effects of tyrosine/phenylalanine depletion on electrophysiological correlates of memory in healthy volunteers. J Psychopharmacol. 2011
- Okusaga O, Muravitskaja O, Fuchs D, Ashraf A, Hinman S, Giegling I, Hartmann AM, Konte B, Friedl M, Schiffman J, Hong E, Reeves G, Groer M, Dantzer R, Rujescu D, Postolache TT. Elevated levels of plasma phenylalanine in schizophrenia: a guanosine triphosphate cyclohydrolase-1 metabolic pathway abnormality? PLoS One. 2014
- Wissmann P, Geisler S, Leblhuber F, Fuchs D. Immune activation in patients with Alzheimer's disease is associated with high serum phenylalanine concentrations. J Neurol Sci. 2013
- Akimitsu O, Wada K, Noji T, Taniwaki N, Krejci M, Nakade M, Takeuchi H, Harada T. The relationship between consumption of tyrosine and phenylalanine as precursors of catecholamine at breakfast and the circadian typology and mental health in Japanese infants aged 2 to 5 years. J Physiol Anthropol. 2013
- Vrshek-Schallhorn S, Wahlstrom D, White T, Luciana M. The effect of acute tyrosine phenylalanine depletion on emotion-based decision-making in healthy adults. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2013
- Jukić T, Rojc B, Boben-Bardutzky D, Hafner M, Ihan A. The use of a food supplementation with D-phenylalanine, L-glutamine and L-5-hydroxytriptophan in the alleviation of alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Coll Antropol. 2011
- Hildebrand P, Königschulte W, Gaber TJ, Bubenzer-Busch S, Helmbold K, Biskup CS, Langen KJ, Fink GR, Zepf FD. Effects of dietary tryptophan and phenylalanine-tyrosine depletion on phasic alertness in healthy adults - A pilot study. Food Nutr Res. 2015
- Kapatos G, Zigmond M. Dopamine biosynthesis from L-tyrosine and L-phenylalanine in rat brain synaptosomes: preferential use of newly accumulated precursors. J Neurochem. 1977
Article last updated on: March 13th, 2018 by Nootriment
11 Comments
Is DLPA good for my hip pain??
You recommend to take 100-200 g a day, and everything is sold 500 g per capsule. Am I missing something?
Hi Natalia,
Unfortunately, most of the capsules are sold in 500 mg dosages, but there are a few vendors that carry smaller dosage tablets. Dr. Mercola has a good discussion of this problem on his site. While many users see positive results at the lower dosage, a lot of supplement companies feel they need to use the industry standard of 500mg DL-PA in order to compete on the value proposition.
Generally, the 500 mg dosage is used for chronic pain management and other medical interventions whereas smaller doses can be better for mood enhancement or for use in a nootropic stack. However, each individual is different.
In this case, you have two options: Look for a supplier of bulk phenlyalanine powder so you can measure the powder yourself and get precisely the dosage you want; Or if you purchase phenylalanine capsules/tablets, you can split the pill into two to achieve an approximate dosage of 250 mg.
I notice that although the article is for DLPA, the shopping links are for L-phenylalanine; for those wishing to try it, you need the D- form for pain relief; you can use the L-phenylalanine alone to improve mood. Recommended dosage for pain is 2,000 mg/day in a divided dose, increasing weekly to a maximum of 4,500 mg/day. (As most of these supplements come in 500 mg capsules, that’s a lot of pills to swallow!) If you do not experience pain relief at that level it will not probably not work for you. If you do get relief, then you can back off 500 mg/day/wk until you experience discomfort and then stay at that dosage. It did not work for me for osteoarthritis pain but did help with mood; most of these phenylalanine supplements are affordable and there are very few side effects. As noted, lower doses can be effective for improved mood, or you can also use 5-HTP.
Hello, thanks for nice article here about DL- Phenylalanine. I wonder how the dosage of 200 or 500 could interfere with stimulants as coffe about 200mg or phenibut at 200 mg or 500 mg. Also if it has any bad side effects with medication like ritalin 5-10-15 mg.
I was wondering about constipation? Seems like since I have been taking it for back pain about a week I have noticed constipation?
Hi Cherlyn,
My Doctor prescribed it for increasing endorphin production in the brain. This was mostly due to opiate withdrawl and just living free from synthetic opiods but if you follow his logic, an increase in endorphin production (apparently the DL version does this) you may feel opiod like side effects. Constipation being a major one as well as pain reduction which you stated. Be assured to know that the supplement won’t effect you like synthetic opiods because you are stimulating your own endorphin production and not adding synthetic endorphins (opiods) which supress the natural production.
This was taken from blue light forum, in my research about endorphin deficiency syndrome…
But you may be experiencing constipation due to how d-phenylalanine helps w EDS and pain in general.
“The body makes its own endogenous opioids (generally called endorphins, enkephalins, and dynorphins.) Each has a function in the brain/body, and in order to maintain a proper concentration, the body has enzymes responsible for breaking these molecules down and making then inactive.
One of those enzymes is carboxypepsidase-a, which is excreted by the pancreas and is responsible for endorphin degradation.
D or DL-phenylalanine, however, blocks the activation of this enzyme which will then result in a higher enkephalin concentration. This potentially therapeutic for people who have naturally low enkephalin levels. Interestingly, DL-phenylalanine may also have some anti-depressant effects via dopamine and NDMA (as it is a precursor to the synthesis of both of these.”
It’s important to note L-phenylalanine may affect mood and will not affect pain, and D-phenylalanine for pain, not for mood. So your goals should dictate which you’re taking.
I suspect too many endorphins are in play, and just like morphine (endogenous morphine I’d where the term “endorphin” comes from), this can cause OIC or opioid induced constipation. You can try loperamide (immodium AD), titrating down your d-phenylalanine dose, or both. Also be sure you’re drinking plenty of water, getting adequate fiber and exercise, as lack of any of this can cause constipation or make slight constipation much worse. Hope this helps.
I’m waiting to ask my dr about this supplement and EDS in a couple weeks, I’ve tried 20+ ssri’s/snri’s, I have general and social anxiety, major depressive disorder and irritable bowel syndrome. I’ve also tried ever ibs D med for men. DL-phenylalanine, low dose naltrexone (LDN), and kratom (which I have tried with success for 8 months and suffered 0 withdrawals after 3-5 grams 3-4x a day). The first 2 I haven’t tried, but I’m having trouble getting back on kratom because of the ibs-d and kratom is pure insoluble fiber.
I am currently withdrawing from suboxone, it’s my 4th day since the last .5 mg dose..I did a short taper from 2mg. I’ve been on subs for several months so I am anticipating a long withdrawal. I have been taking a low dose of xanax (reluctlantly) and have access to gabapentin & clonodine just to get through the first few worst days but I want to start taking this DLPA.. also to avoid taking other narcotics to get by to achieve abstinence! I don’t want to trade one addiction for another. **However I am trying to conceive and may have to go through IVF procedures to get pregnant. Is it safe for me to take the DLPA now? If not are there any other supplements with the similar benefits that are safe to take while trying to concieve/pregnant? I read that high does of liposomal vitamin c can help opiate withdrawals as well. Thanks any feedback would help, not sure if this is the right forum to ask but I will consult with my psychiatrist too..
Soweit ich das versteh ist dlpa ein Vorläufer von tyrosin? Und wann ist welches besser? Welche Form wird am besten resorbiert? Die dlpa Form oder l phenylanalin?
Danke
What is the recommended doses you should take a day (in “tea spoon messuarements”)? For example 1/5 teaspoon x 3 a day.?
Also how many hours/days does it take for you to feel any effect?
/Thanks