Tyramine is a biogenic amine found in plants and animals. Tyrosine, which is found in many foods, can also be converted to tyramine, but it is gradually reduced when the food begins to ferment. Tyramine is known to be found in cheese, yeast, meat, fish, beans, and other foods. In particular, fermented or aged foods contain relatively high levels of tyramine, while fresh foods contain little or no tyramine. Tyramine is also produced during the breakdown of proteins, such as tofu, soy sauce, soy milk, and other soy products. In tyramine’s molecular structure, it contains nitrogen from ammonia.
Improvements in modern food processing techniques have greatly reduced the amount of tyramine in foods, except for certain cheeses and sauces. How do you test tyramine? At present, we mainly use liquid chromatography detection. When tyramine is absorbed by the body, it is metabolized by intestinal monoamine oxidase. Tyramine is a substrate for type I monoamine oxidase, as well as for DA transporters, vesicular monoamine transporters, NE transporters, and trace amine-related receptor 1.
