Cold Sore Lysine – How And Why It Works

by Denny Bodoh

Cold sore lysine – does it really help cold sores or is it just so much hype? Now you can know the truth. By the time you finish this article, you will discover some little known facts about cold sore lysine treatment options.

Cold sore lysine treatment has been in the news a lot in recent years. Studies continue to show it to be very helpful for relief of these persistent sores. But many people who write about lysine do not know how it actually works.

FACT: Cold sores are quelled by lysine similar to a fire being quenched by water.

Water puts out a fire by starving it of the oxygen it needs to burn. Lysine works in a similar way – it represses cold sores by depriving the herpes virus of what it must have to create the sore.

Before using lysine, however, let us explore the cause and effect of these outbreaks and how lysine actually works for you.

When the herpes simplex virus becomes active, it infects nerve cells on the surface and forces them to make copies of the virus. Once full, the cells are annihilated to free the new virus.

The herpes virus, type 1 or 2, creates the open, ugly ulcer on your lip or nose by burning up thousands of nerve cells during this replication process.

FACT: Arginine feeds cold sores like oxygen feeds fires.

The herpes virus is made of protein. The main protein used by the cells to create this sub-microscopic virus is the amino acid arginine.

Lysine and arginine are essential to your good health. They are termed essential amino acids because they cannot be created within the body. They must come through food. Each of the 17 essential amino acids has a specific duty to keep you healthy.

Your body cells store arginine in a special area within the cell. If forced to create new herpes virus, your cell will draw on these stores until depleted. Without arginine readily available, new virus cannot be created.

FACT: Lysine smothers cold sores by making arginine unavailable.

Your cells warehouse lysine too. And it does so in the same storage space as arginine. Since arginine and lysine compete for the same storage area, the more lysine you eat and make available to your cells, the less arginine will be available for virus creation.

Lysine cannot be used for creating herpes virus – like water cannot burn. And it smothers the replication process by keeping arginine from being available for use.

FACT: Lysine can only reach the cells for storage through the blood supply.

Lysine from food is the best utilized form of lysine. Eating food high in cold sore lysine, such as meat, fish and dairy, is the best way to get this powerful amino acid for healing or prevention.

Taking lysine supplements is much more convenient for most people. The body does not utilize supplemental lysine as well as food sources. For this reason, a combination of food and supplements is the very best treatment of choice.

Do not sucker for lysine as a topical treatment for cold sores. These remedies may have other ingredients that can help relieve these painful sores. But lysine put directly on the sore area is of little or no use.

Lysine does not absorb through the skin to prevent cold sores, nor is it any good once the sore opens up. The lysine molecule can only be absorbed by the cells through the normal nutritional pathway – the bloodstream.

YES. Lysine works great for quenching cold sores. And Lysine is great for preventing them too. But your cold sore lysine must be taken orally to do its magic.

For treatment of a currently active sore, a common daily dosage would be about 4000 mg.. Between outbreaks, many people take 500 to 1000 mg. of supplemental lysine as a preventative.

Consuming high lysine foods is the best source of quality lysine. Taking lysine capsules may also be necessary for you to reach the levels you need for effective cold sore lysine treatment.

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