Agmatine is a compound the body makes from the amino acid arginine; supplements use agmatine sulfate. It is sold in pre-workout and mood products, and the main human trial tested it for nerve pain from a herniated lower-back disc.
Also known as: agmatine sulfate, decarboxylated arginine.
Agmatine has no intake value or upper limit, and there is no NIH fact sheet for it. In the trial below (Keynan 2010), a dose-finding phase used 1.335 to 3.56 g a day of agmatine sulfate for 10 to 21 days, and the placebo-controlled phase used 2.67 g a day for 14 days. These are study protocols, not a recommendation.
It is sold in the US as a dietary supplement. Under the 1994 dietary supplement law (DSHEA), FDA does not approve dietary supplements before they are marketed, and the maker, not FDA, is responsible for safety and labeling. There is no FDA-approved agmatine drug.
In a trial in people with nerve pain from a herniated lumbar disc (Keynan 2010), 99 people were randomized to agmatine sulfate or placebo for 14 days and 61 were analyzed. Both groups improved, but pain scores improved more with agmatine (26.7% versus 6.0%) and quality-of-life scores more as well. This is one trial, and many randomized participants were not included in the analysis.
In the dose-finding phase, 3 people at the highest amount had mild to moderate diarrhea and mild nausea that went away when they stopped; no treatment-related side effects were noted in the placebo-controlled phase. Long-term safety has not been studied.
We could not find a single published half-life or time to peak for agmatine that applies to a supplement dose, so we do not list one.
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