![[nootropics_archive2 graphic]](../images/nootropics_archive2.gif){kind=small}
Home
Nootropics Dictionary
Smart Drinks Nootropic Drugs Nutrition, Drugs and Hype Nootropics Links Nootropics in Medicine Neuropolitics
Nootropic Nutrients
Choline and Lecithin DMAE N-3 Fatty Acids Neurotransmitter Precursors Pyrrilidones
Serotonin Precursors Nootropic Plants / Herbs Product Reviews
Smart Aphrodisiacs?
Serotonin Precursors
Tryptophan is the amino-acid precursor of the neurotransmitter serotonin. (5-hydroxytryptamine)
When it was on the market, many people, including myself, found it invaluable for insomnia.
Unfortunately a series of strange incidents happened a few years ago, (by the only reliable accounts, a muscle-paralyzing disease that was caused by an impurity in one manufacturers tryptophan when they changed their manufacturing process..) initiating a chain of events that ended up in an FDA action causing tryptophan from being withdrawn from the market in the US. (It is still sold in many other countries despite the FDA's campaigning to have them remove it from their stores too.)
This decision is still controversial. Many people feel it was hastily made.
It is interesting to note that in countries where L-Trp is still available, there have been no further cases of EMS.
Recently, an extract of a plant that contains high amounts of 5-hydroxytryptophan, a more direct precursor of serotonin, has been used in nutritional supplements. This extract, which contains fairly high amounts of the nutrient 5-hydroxytryptophan, is commonly marketed as 5-HTP and insomnia sufferers and others with serotonin-related problems are very grateful.
Unlike L-tryptophan, this serotonin precursor extract is not manufactured, it comes from natural sources. However, some politically well-connected scientists have already begun to campaign for it's removal from store shelves. It is interesting to note that this issue seems to elicit so much emotion. Perhaps there is something here that they arent telling us.
For example, two possible causes of the political brouhaha are the still-unresearched but well known fact that tryptophan is quite useful in drug recovery and depression.
(the US makes an incredibly high amount of money from sales of "SSRI" (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) antidepressants in the world, and so a safe and inexpensive natural alternative to SSRIs is threatening to some, especially when it doesnt cause sexual dysfunction- the main reason many people dont take drugs like Prozac..) ________ from Health-Infocom News: Volume 3, Number 35 November 4, 1990 Update: Analysis of L-Tryptophan for the Etiology of Eosinophilia-Myalgia Syndrome In August 1990, CDC and the Food and Drug Administration proposed a structure for peak 97 (Figure 1A), the high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) peak that was most predictive of L-tryptophan (LT) lots associated with eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome (EMS) cases(1). This report updates those findings. Analyses of the product of LT and acetaldehyde show that the product is the di-L-tryptophan aminal of acetaldehyde (DTAA), with the methine bridge coupling the two tryptophan molecules across the indolenitrogens (Figure 1B) rather than the amino nitrogens (Figure 1A). Thissynthesized product has the same proton nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR) spectra, mass spectra, and HPLC chromatographic properties aspeak 97. [...] 1. CDC. Analysis of L-tryptophan for the etiology of eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome. MMWR 1990;39:589-91. 2. Reynolds WF, McClean S, Perpick-Dumont M, Enriquez RG.Improved 13C-1H shift correlation spectra for indirectly bonded carbons and hydrogens: the FLOCK sequence. Magn ResonChem 1989;27:162-9. 3. Crofford LJ, Rader JI, Dalakas MC, et al. L-Tryptophan implicated in human eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome causes fasciitis and perimyositis in the Lewis rat. JClin Invest 1990;86:1757-63. Health InfoCom Network News Page 28 ****************************** Article Separation ***************************** L-tryptophan eosinophilia-myalgia synrome (L-TRP-EMS) references: Belongia-E-A, et al. "An investigation of the cause of the eosinophilia- myalgia syndrome associated with tryptophan use" N-Engl-J-Med. 1990 Aug 9. 323(6). P 357-365 (see also N-Engl-J-Med. 1990 Oct 4. 323(14). P 992-993 "CONCLUSIONS. The outbreak of the eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome in 1989 resulted from the ingestion of a chemical constituent that was associated with specific tryptophan-manufacturing conditions at one company. The chemical constituent represented by peak E may contribute to the pathogenesis of the eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome, or it may be a surrogate for another chemical that induces the syndrome." Mayeno-A-N, et al. "Characterization of "peak E," a novel amino acid associated with eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome." Science. 1990 Dec 21. 250(4988). P 1707-1708. Spectral and chemical studies now demonstrate that peak E is 1,1'-ethylidenebis[tryptophan]. This novel amino acid may be the etiological agent responsible for EMS, or it may be a marker of a still unidentified causal agent. Slutsker-L, et al. "Eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome associated with exposure to tryptophan from a single manufacturer." JAMA. 1990 Jul 11. 264(2). P 213-217.
This page was created at 11/6/98; 7:00:40 PM and was last built on 5/17/99; 7:49:12 AM.
Thank you for visiting. chris@hyperreal.org