Serine is a non-essential amino acid that the body can make itself from other amino acids and metabolic intermediates. It is involved in numerous metabolic processes, including the building of cell membranes and the formation of other amino acids such as glycine and cysteine.
In food, serine occurs in many protein-containing foods, such as meat, eggs, dairy products, soya and some nuts. Since the body can also synthesise serine itself, a targeted intake from individual foods usually plays no great role in practice.
Relevance for nutrition and sport
For physically active people, serine is rarely the focus of attention, as it is relevant mainly as a building block in overall metabolism and in other amino acids, less as an active substance in its own right. An adequate total protein intake from varied sources reliably covers the serine requirement as a rule.
Isolated serine supplements have so far played hardly any role in sport, and the evidence for targeted supplementation is correspondingly thin. The page amino acids offers a broader overview of amino acids and their importance for nutrition and sport. In practice, an adequate overall protein intake across the day remains more important than looking at individual amino acids in isolation.
