I stumbled upon this recent finding that glycine can contribute to depression. I need to look into this study further, but I’m curious if any long-time users of glycine have any comments or want to pitch in (?)
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I have been taking relatively high doses, 4-8 grams daily, of glycine for over two years.
Recently I have been adding 2 grams of NAC with it. I have noticed no depressive effects and I am in an age group more subject to depression.
“potentially contributing to depression and anxiety”, “maybe”, “likely”
IMO these types of articles are merely bs clickbait articles used to fill some space.
There are no relevant human studies cited.
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The article was about this study, which was linked at the bottom:
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.add7150
The gist of it is that prior research demonstrated that when mice have a receptor called GPR158 knocked-out (deleted), they are more resilient to stress-induced depression. In this study, the researchers observed that this was an amino-acid receptor and that glycine could bind to it. They observed that when glycine binds to the receptor, it leads to the receptor binding RGS proteins, which seems to slow down activity in the brain, and this slowing of brain activity is what is believed to be the connection to depression.
Also, even if glycine binding to this receptor may contribute to depression, this does not mean that taking glycine necessarily causes depression. Glycine is a ligand for a number of receptors. It may even turn out that other amino acids are better ligands for the receptor eventually, similarly to how D-Serine is a stronger agonist of the glycine receptor than glycine, yet it was named the Glycine receptor, instead of the D-Serine receptor, as D-Serine had not been discovered yet at the time it was named.
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I’m also on Glycine for some time and don’t have any signed of depression.
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SHC thanks for posting about this new finding that glycine can apparently send a “slow-down” signal to the brain through the GPR158 receptor, which could have some big implications for treating mood disorders! But before we get too excited, it’s important to remember that this is a recent discovery and there’s still a lot we don’t know about how the mGlyR receptors impact brain cell activity and contribute to depression and anxiety.
It’s also worth noting that depression and anxiety are complex disorders that can be influenced by many different factors, so it’s unlikely that glycine and the GPR158 receptor are the only pieces of the puzzle. I’ve been taking it continiusly for 6 years, haven’t noticed any chnages personally.
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Since I have been taking glycine, I have noticed less anxiety, more happiness and an overall better mood. However I attribute it to the lithium orotate and NAC that I take.
My point is that whatever negatives might affect your mood or depression from taking glycine daily, it’s inconsequential. At least for me.
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Do you take your NAC at the same time as the Glycine? Do you think it matters?
Yes, just because I am imitating Glynac. It might make a difference since oral glycine half-life is short ~1.5 hours.
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I too take large quantities of glycine (in my coffee) throughout the day and haven’t noticed any signs of depression
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