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Banana Therapy



 
 
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  #1  
Old May 17th, 2005, 05:16 AM
Andrew
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Default Banana Therapy

My mom knows a doctor in Taiwan who wrote a book called "Banana
Therapy". The doctor insists you can treat and/or cure
depression/anxiety symptoms by increasing your intake of bananas, which
are high in tryptophan. He also recommends eating turkey instead of
chicken because of the tryptophan. Is there any truth in this?
According to the amount listings in the book I am eating roughly 30g of
tryptophan per day.

  #2  
Old May 18th, 2005, 05:14 AM
chula
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Default

"Andrew" wrote in message
ups.com...
My mom knows a doctor in Taiwan who wrote a book called "Banana
Therapy". The doctor insists you can treat and/or cure
depression/anxiety symptoms by increasing your intake of bananas, which
are high in tryptophan. He also recommends eating turkey instead of
chicken because of the tryptophan. Is there any truth in this?
According to the amount listings in the book I am eating roughly 30g of
tryptophan per day.


Tryptophan is a precursor to melatonin and melatonin is a precursor to
serotonin which does affect mood. There is a connection. However,
anti-depressant prescription medications such as Prozac, Zoloft, etc., are
serotonin receptor inhibitors. Therefore, one would expect that if your
goal is to reduce depression you would want to NOT ingest additional
tryptophan. Moreover, we all know the effects that tryptophan has on us at
Thanksgiving - putting us to sleep after a big turkey meal. And melatonin
has been used effectively for quite some time as a sleep inducing
medication. Therefore, common sense would dictate that you would actually
want to do just the opposite. Avoid the tryptophan-melatonin-serotonin
connection to reduce symptoms of depression.

But that having been said, your mother needs to go to a physician if her
depression is such that she feels it needs to be treated. Playing
do-it-yourself with this kind of stuff is useless at best and dangerous at
worst.

chula


  #3  
Old May 18th, 2005, 09:02 AM
Polar Light
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Posts: n/a
Default


"chula" wrote in message
...
"Andrew" wrote in message
ups.com...
My mom knows a doctor in Taiwan who wrote a book called "Banana
Therapy". The doctor insists you can treat and/or cure
depression/anxiety symptoms by increasing your intake of bananas, which
are high in tryptophan. He also recommends eating turkey instead of
chicken because of the tryptophan. Is there any truth in this?
According to the amount listings in the book I am eating roughly 30g of
tryptophan per day.


Tryptophan is a precursor to melatonin and melatonin is a precursor to
serotonin which does affect mood. There is a connection. However,
anti-depressant prescription medications such as Prozac, Zoloft, etc., are
serotonin receptor inhibitors. Therefore, one would expect that if your
goal is to reduce depression you would want to NOT ingest additional
tryptophan. Moreover, we all know the effects that tryptophan has on us
at
Thanksgiving - putting us to sleep after a big turkey meal.


Big meals in general have this effect as the body's energy is focused on the
digestive system. This is one of the reasons lunch tends to be lighter than
dinner, you don't want to feel tired and sleepy for two hours when you have
to be back at work. Consuming alcohol with a meal (as is often the case with
celebrations) makes it a lot worse.

And melatonin has been used effectively for quite some time as a sleep
inducing
medication.


Melatonin is sold as a supplement not a medication and, in my personal
experience, it's not very effective to induce sleep.

Therefore, common sense would dictate that you would actually
want to do just the opposite. Avoid the tryptophan-melatonin-serotonin
connection to reduce symptoms of depression.

But that having been said, your mother needs to go to a physician if her
depression is such that she feels it needs to be treated. Playing
do-it-yourself with this kind of stuff is useless at best and dangerous at
worst.


Diet alone will not suffice as a treatment for non-diet related conditions,
however, many people find that changing their diets helps them feel better,
improves their mood, etc. The OP never said his mother needs treatment for
depression, only that she knows a doctor who wrote a book on the subject.

You'd probably need to eat an awful lot of bananas to get a significant
amount of tryptophan, if you like bananas it may be worth giving it a try,
they're not likely to do much harm, although at around 100 cals each, eating
too many could cause weight gain.


  #4  
Old May 18th, 2005, 01:32 PM
Nunya B.
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Polar Light" wrote in message
...

"chula" wrote in message
...
"Andrew" wrote in message
ups.com...
My mom knows a doctor in Taiwan who wrote a book called "Banana
Therapy". The doctor insists you can treat and/or cure
depression/anxiety symptoms by increasing your intake of bananas, which
are high in tryptophan. He also recommends eating turkey instead of
chicken because of the tryptophan. Is there any truth in this?
According to the amount listings in the book I am eating roughly 30g of
tryptophan per day.


Tryptophan is a precursor to melatonin and melatonin is a precursor to
serotonin which does affect mood. There is a connection. However,
anti-depressant prescription medications such as Prozac, Zoloft, etc.,
are
serotonin receptor inhibitors. Therefore, one would expect that if your
goal is to reduce depression you would want to NOT ingest additional
tryptophan. Moreover, we all know the effects that tryptophan has on us
at
Thanksgiving - putting us to sleep after a big turkey meal.


Big meals in general have this effect as the body's energy is focused on
the digestive system. This is one of the reasons lunch tends to be lighter
than dinner, you don't want to feel tired and sleepy for two hours when
you have to be back at work. Consuming alcohol with a meal (as is often
the case with celebrations) makes it a lot worse.

And melatonin has been used effectively for quite some time as a sleep
inducing
medication.


Melatonin is sold as a supplement not a medication and, in my personal
experience, it's not very effective to induce sleep.


However for some people it works very well.
--
the volleyballchick


 




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