Histidine
Histidine is an essential amino acid that has to come from food. The body uses it, among other things, to make histamine.
Also listed as L-Histidine
What it is studied for
The strongest rated effects first. Bars show the size of the effect, the letter grades the evidence, and each rating lists the studies behind it.
What does histidine do?
Histidine is an essential amino acid, one of the building blocks of protein. It is also a precursor of histamine and occurs in hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells. These everyday biological roles do not establish a benefit from taking extra histidine. 1 2
Why people take it
SuppCo community snapshot, 2026-09-28. Reasons for use are not evidence that it works.
Questions people ask
Is histidine the same as histamine?
No. Histidine is an amino acid from which the body can make histamine. 2
Does the metabolic trial apply to everyone?
It studied women with obesity and metabolic syndrome; results cannot simply be extended to healthy adults. 3
Is 8 g a daily target?
No. It was an experimental safety finding from short exposures in healthy adults, not a dietary recommendation. 1
Lysine