← All supplements

Histidine

Supplement amino acid general nutrition
Aka: L-histidine
Brands seen in Singapore: California Gold Nutrition, Life Extension, NOW Foods, Doctor's Best, Nutricost
Not medical advice. Check with your doctor or pharmacist before you start, stop or change the timing of anything you take.
How to use
What it’s for
An essential amino acid · buffering and carnosine supply
Pros & cons
Pros
  • Essential — buffering, metal chelation, erythropoiesis
  • The precursor of carnosine
  • No toxicity or mutagenicity signs reported in review
Cons
  • Liver disease — the review calls it inappropriate there
  • Raises blood ammonia and glutamine, lowers BCAAs
  • Most claimed uses still need further study
Sources
  1. Histidine in Health and Disease: Metabolism, Physiological Importance, and Use as a Supplement (Holecek M, Nutrients 2020; PMC7146355) · read 2026-08-27
    what it says
    “L-histidine (HIS) is an essential amino acid with unique roles in proton buffering, metal ion chelation, scavenging of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, erythropoiesis, and the histaminergic system.”
  2. Holecek M, Nutrients 2020 — histidine derivatives and dipeptides · read 2026-08-27
    what it says
    “HIS-containing dipeptides (particularly carnosine), and methyl- and sulphur-containing derivatives of HIS … have specific functions.”
  3. Holecek M, Nutrients 2020 — evidence gaps · read 2026-08-27
    what it says
    “Further studies are needed to elucidate the effects of HIS supplementation on neurological disorders, atopic dermatitis, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, uraemic anaemia, ulcers, inflammatory bowel diseases, malignancies, and muscle performance”
  4. Holecek M, Nutrients 2020 — reported safety signals · read 2026-08-27
    what it says
    “Signs of toxicity, mutagenic activity, and allergic reactions or peptic ulcers have not been reported, although HIS is a histamine precursor.”
  5. Holecek M, Nutrients 2020 — findings of concern and liver disease · read 2026-08-27
    what it says
    “Of concern should be findings of hepatic enlargement and increases in ammonia and glutamine and of decrease in branched-chain amino acids … indicating that HIS supplementation is inappropriate in patients with liver disease.”
  6. Europe PMC REST search, 27 Aug 26 — histidine in title plus health/supplement/supplementation/review (83 hits; the human supplementation literature is almost entirely histidine-CONTAINING DIPEPTIDES such as carnosine and anserine, not histidine itself) · read 2026-08-27
    what it says
    “"hitCount":83 … "Histidine-Containing Dipeptides in Obesity and Cardiometabolic Health: A Systematic Scoping Review."”
  7. HSA Health Supplements Guidelines GL-CHPB-3-001 Rev. No. 020 (January 2026) — s3.1 working definition and clause 4.8 (Tables 4-5 cover vitamins and minerals only) · read 2026-08-27
    what it says
    “Vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids, enzymes, probiotics and other bioactive substances … HS for use by the general adult population should not contain vitamins and minerals exceeding the stipulated limits stated in Tables 4 and 5.”
  8. HSA Guidelines on Prohibited and Restricted Ingredients in HS and TM, GL-CHPB-1-012 Rev. No. 001 (Oct 2025), Annex A/B — full text searched 27 Aug 26, no row for histidine · read 2026-08-27
    what it says
    “The objective of this guideline is to highlight the substances of concern when used in HS and TM and is not meant to be an exhaustive list.”
  9. iHerb Singapore category page "Amino Acids", default best-selling order, first 5 distinct brands — https://sg.iherb.com/c/l-histidine resolves to the general Amino Acids category listing; iHerb SG has no histidine-only category, so these brands are the amino-acid category's top sellers, not histidine-specific · read 2026-08-27
    what it says
    “Amino Acids”
Report a correction View as JSON

Updated 2026-08-29. Every line above traces to a numbered source. Kozen-X is not a medical device and does not give medical advice. It lists what published sources have written down — nothing more. A pair not listed is unrecorded, not cleared. Before you start, stop or re-time anything, talk to your doctor or pharmacist.