PlainPill

L-Lysine vs Vitamin C for immunity

Short answer: For immunity, more users report improvement with L-Lysine — 100% of 9 reports, versus 90% of 40 for Vitamin C.

L-Lysine has 7 meta-analyses and 59 randomized trials on PubMed; Vitamin C has 738 and 2,072.

Based on 53 reports about L-Lysine and 928 about Vitamin C. Not medical advice.

L-Lysine
Supplement
Vitamin C
Supplement
Users say it helped65%helped21 reports · medium confidence64%helped204 reports · high confidence
Verdict
Mostly positive
Mostly positive
ResearchAResearch: StrongAResearch: Strong
Meta-analyses / RCTs7 / 59738 / 2,072
Mainly used for
Immunity
% reporting improvement
100% (9)90% (40)
Energy
% reporting improvement
—94% (34)
Skin & hair
% reporting improvement
100% (3)97% (29)
Mood
% reporting improvement
—88% (25)
Anxiety
% reporting improvement
100% (2)94% (17)
Common side effectsstomach issueskidney stones, stomach issues, insomnia, bone pain
Typical dose reported2 g / before bed2000 mg / daily
L-Lysine
Latest review conclusion

Based primarily on case reports ornithine levels can be reduced by using a protein restricted diet, pyridoxine supplementation (variation-dependent) and/or lysine supplementation. The lack of pre-defined clinical outcome measures and structural follow-up in all included studies impeded conclusions on clinical effectiveness. Future research should be aimed at 1) Unravelling the OAT biochemical pathway to identify other possible pathologic metabolites besides ornithine, 2) Pre-defining GACR specific clinical outcome measures, and 3) Establishing an international historical cohort.

Mol Genet Metab, 2021 ↗
What a user said
“Finally, I started to take L-lysine for a different issue. Immediately I saw that I could lay my head down at night and go to sleep like I could before. That was several months ago and I continue to sleep regularly.”
Full L-Lysine profile →
Vitamin C
Latest review conclusion

The failure of vitamin C supplementation to reduce the incidence of colds in the general population indicates that routine vitamin C supplementation is not justified, yet vitamin C may be useful for people exposed to brief periods of severe physical exercise. Regular supplementation trials have shown that vitamin C reduces the duration of colds, but this was not replicated in the few therapeutic trials that have been carried out. Nevertheless, given the consistent effect of vitamin C on the duration and severity of colds in the regular supplementation studies, and the low cost and safety, it m

Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2013 ↗
What a user said
“I know people say you get enough vitamin C from diet but I feel and look better when I supplement it.”
Full Vitamin C profile →

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Percentages come from first-hand user reports and are not clinical outcomes. Talk to a doctor before starting, stopping or combining anything. How we rate