Tryptophan?

"Tom Nakashima" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Went riding with a friend the day after Tx-Giving. Said she was tired
because of the "Tryptophan" , didn't seem to bother me and I ate a lot of
turkey. I was wondering if this natural sedative in turkey that makes you
sleepy is a myth?
-tom

I think it is a myth used to sell vacations!
Ken

Tom Nakashima said:

Went riding with a friend the day after Tx-Giving. Said she was tired
because of the "Tryptophan" , didn't seem to bother me and I ate a lot of
turkey. I was wondering if this natural sedative in turkey that makes you
sleepy is a myth?

It's a current buzzword; whether later research will support or
discredit the current theory is something that only time will reveal.
IMO, what causes many people to feel lethargic after turkey-day feast
is their own overconsumption. I've noticed that pretty much the same
results seem to occur for me (and a number of people I've observed)
with consumption of similar volumes and caloric content of foods,
regardless of whether there's a scorched bird in the mix.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
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Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

Tryptophan is an amino acid. Its more of the more complex neutral based
amino acid that has a ring structure. (If I remember correctly from
biochemistry)
Basically, as with all protein, it takes more energy to break down an amino
acid before it enters the metabolic pathway. However, the presence of
trytophan versus eating a hamburger or chicken, really doesnt make sense to
me as why it would make one more tired. Plus, usually with consumpption of
turkey during Thanksgiving, are quick and easy energy sources that are
generally quickly metabolized such as cranberry sauce and other glucose
based foods.

I cannot imagine that the presence of a specific amino acid in high
quantities would do more than anythign else in high quantities. Its all
about it taking energy to break down food into something useful by the body
(as in more energy).

david

Tom Nakashima says...

Quoted message said:

Went riding with a friend the day after Tx-Giving. Said she was tired
because of the "Tryptophan" , didn't seem to bother me and I ate a lot of
turkey. I was wondering if this natural sedative in turkey that makes you
sleepy is a myth?
-tom

It's a myth. Turkey doesn't have any more tryptophan than many other
foods. We get sleepy after over-eating because our blood and energy
supplies move to the digestive system and away from our heads.

"Werehatrack" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

IMO, what causes many people to feel lethargic after turkey-day feast
is their own overconsumption. I've noticed that pretty much the same
results seem to occur for me (and a number of people I've observed)
with consumption of similar volumes and caloric content of foods,
regardless of whether there's a scorched bird in the mix.

Yep, something about your digestive system using up your energy...
something about not swimming...

--
Scott Ehardt
http://www.scehardt.com

david said:

Tryptophan is an amino acid. Its more of the more complex neutral based
amino acid that has a ring structure. (If I remember correctly from
biochemistry)
Basically, as with all protein, it takes more energy to break down an amino
acid before it enters the metabolic pathway. However, the presence of
trytophan versus eating a hamburger or chicken, really doesnt make sense to
me as why it would make one more tired. Plus, usually with consumpption of
turkey during Thanksgiving, are quick and easy energy sources that are
generally quickly metabolized such as cranberry sauce and other glucose
based foods.

I cannot imagine that the presence of a specific amino acid in high
quantities would do more than anythign else in high quantities. Its all
about it taking energy to break down food into something useful by the body
(as in more energy).

Tryptophan is an essential amino acid. The "essential" means that
there is no way for your body to make tryptophan from other chemicals
in your food. The only way to get tryptophan into your metabolic
pathways is by eating some. One reason to think ingestion of
tryptophan may affect your brain is that your body needs tryptophan to
make serotonin and melatonin. (Take a molecule of tryptophan, pass it
through tryptophan hydroxylase then let 5-hydroxytryptophan
decarboxylase do its thing and you're left with 5-hydroxytryptamine,
aka 5-HT, aka serotonin. A couple more steps and you have got
melatonin) Thus ingestion of tryptophan can be the rate limiting step
in the production of Serotonin and melatonin, two neurotransmitters
that have been linked to sleep.

So, there is at least a theoretical reason to think that ingestion of
tryptophn can affect sleep, and some research supports this. see
for example:

http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0165178102000100

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/npp/journal/v18/n2/abs/1380602a.html&dynoptions=doi1101954749

I have no idea if turkey makes one sleepy.

Tom Nakashima said:

Went riding with a friend the day after Tx-Giving. Said she was tired
because of the "Tryptophan" , didn't seem to bother me and I ate a
lot of turkey. I was wondering if this natural sedative in turkey
that makes you sleepy is a myth?
-tom

Making you sleepy isn't a myth, but tired the next day /is/.

(I don't need no steenkin' tryptophan for THAT!)
--
BS (no, really)