ALANINE
Alanine is necessary for your body to break down sugars, another important part of your bodies energy pathway. If you can’t break down sugars then you have no glycogen for your muscles, because alanine is necessary for the conversion of glucose to glycogen. This also means that alanine could be a useful supplement for those trying to lose fat.

When supplementing alanine you should take it in conjunction with your multi-vitamin or a B complex vitamin. The liver can use amazingly high levels of alanine for conversion of glucose. You should find a source of just L-Alanine, not a “combination” amino acid product. The amounts of alanine in these “combo” products are not nearly high enough to make a difference. Take 500mg to 2g daily. There are no known issues with overdosing on alanine or any interactions with other medications. Alanine is inexpensive and the dosing outlined shouldn’t cost more than $15-20 per month.

ORNITHINE
L-Ornithine may be very helpful if you are trying to lose fat. It is important because it initiates the release of growth hormone in the body. This can be very helpful with fat metabolism. It is also helpful for recovery and cellular regeneration.

Ornithine is not an amino acid coded for by DNA, and in that sense, is not involved in protein synthesis.

L-ornithine is sometimes used as a nutritional supplement for its putative anabolic activity, even though there is little evidence to support this. However, there is a derivative of L-ornithine called ornithine alpha-ketoglutarate or OKG which, under certain conditions, may have immunomodulatory and anticatabolic and/or anabolic actions.

Studies with any promising data at all have used high doses of ornithine. If you wish to try then I suggest starting at 5g per day and increasing as necessary up to 10g per day. They are no safety issues with ornithine, although some people may experience stomach upset with higher dosages. Ornithine should be taken together with arginine for maximum growth hormone release.

TAURINE
Taurine has been shown to reduce the overall weight of mice on a high fat diet. Studies have not been done yet on humans, but many people feel that the effect is similar. Along with that it helps to control the energy production in the body. This is why you will find taurine in all of the new energy drinks on the market.

Biologically, taurine is not an amino acid, but it works in a similar fashion.

Taurine is critical for the stability of membranes. Some believe that it is this control over membrane stability that gives taurine the ability to rid people of the very painful lower back pumps sometimes experienced from squatting or deadlifts.

Taurine is also a free radical scavenger and a major control over the aging process. This makes it popular for anti-aging purposes as well.

Typical taurine dosage is 1g 2-3 times a day.