This may actually explain the carbohydrate cravings one sees in PMS-your brain may be trying to get you to boost tryptophan levels to feel better. In the experiment I describe in my 2-min video A Better Way to Boost Serotonin, those given a turkey/egg/cheese breakfast experienced a drop in tryptophan levels, whereas those given a waffle/orange juice breakfast saw their levels rise. When we eat plant foods, though, the carbohydrates trigger a release of insulin that causes our muscles to take up many of the non-tryptophan amino acids as fuel, potentially leaving our tryptophan first in line for brain access.Īnimal foods can even make things worse. Since tryptophan is present in most animal proteins in relatively small quantities it gets muscled out of the way. Tryptophan is one amino acid among many found in proteins, and they compete with one another for transport across the blood-brain barrier into the brain. When people think tryptophan, they think Thanksgiving turkey, but researchers at MIT dispelled those myths about a decade ago. Instead of supplements, there are dietary strategies one can use to improve mood. It may have been due to some unknown impurity, but better safe than sorry. Likewise, you can give people tryptophan pills to improve their mood, and, not surprisingly, it became a popular dietary supplement… until people started dying from something called eosinophilia–myalgia syndrome (EMS).Īs I note in my 2-min video The Wrong Way to Boost Serotonin, EMS is an incurable, debilitating, and sometimes fatal flu-like neurological condition that can be caused by the ingestion of tryptophan supplements. They became irritable, annoyed, angry, and depressed. This precursor is an amino acid called tryptophan that we get from our diet.īack in the 70’s experiments showed that when people were given specially concocted tryptophan deficient diets, their mood suffered. Serotonin can’t cross the blood-brain barrier, but the precursor to serotonin can. We don’t need serotonin in our blood, though we need it in our brain. In my 2-min video Human Neurotransmitters in Plants I show how plants may contain levels of dopamine, serotonin, and melatonin at concentrations high enough to actually alter levels in our bloodstream. Since when do plants have animal neurotransmitters? Since forever, I was surprised to learn. However, these medications can carry significant side effects, so the researchers suggested a novel strategy: How about using “high-content sources of serotonin to provide our body with these substances,” such as “plantains, pineapples, bananas, kiwis, plums, and tomatoes.” It starts out detailing how bad the disease can be how abnormally low levels of neurotransmitters like the “happiness hormone” serotonin in the brain may be responsible and that we now have SSRI drugs like Prozac that appear to work by boosting serotonin levels.
A strange letter was recently published in the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience suggesting fruit as a treatment for depression.
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