Turkey, tryptophan and happy Thanksgiving!
I hope this Thanksgiving day finds you all well and happy and thankful for all the good things in your life, like your kids.
For those of you enjoying turkey today, I thought I’d mention tryptophan, an amino acid found in turkey that is often blamed for making people tired after eating. This is “probably due to its ability to increase brain levels of serotonin (a calming neurotransmitter when present in moderate levels) and/or melatonin (a sleep-inducing hormone secreted by the pineal gland in response to darkness or low light levels).” [from wikipedia]
The lethargic feeling and trying to find a place to nap after Thanksgiving turkey, duck or tur-duc-hen is attributed to tryptophan, but other sources include cheddar, chicken, beef, eggs and salmon.
Tags: amino_acid, neurotransmitter, serotonin, tryptophan, turkeyRelated Stories
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2 opinions for Turkey, tryptophan and happy Thanksgiving!
JLow
Nov 22, 2007 at 11:10 pm
I remember I had trouble getting my tongue around this, err, tongue-twister, when I came across this word some over-20 years ago.
It caught my attention because, not one who was doing well in school, this substance was supposed to improve one’s memory or intelligence!
Anyway, whatever research being done since then would like be more accurate than when I read about it so many years ago…
Perhaps I did consume too much of it then & was always sleepy in class? ;)
Happy Thanksgiving!
Mike
Nov 22, 2007 at 11:18 pm
I heard on the radio (my primary source of hard research) that it wasn’t the tryptophan that puts us to sleep but the nearly 7000 calories most people eat on Thanksgiving throwing our blood/sugar levels into all kinds of panic.
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