If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
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
|
|||
|
|||
"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
|
|||
|
|||
"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
|
|||
|
|||
"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 |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Banana Wolfing Contest | Andrew | General Discussion | 1 | May 14th, 2005 05:57 PM |
Back from North Carolina | Debbie Cusick | Low Carbohydrate Diets | 9 | April 14th, 2004 12:20 AM |
Ack! Starbucks Scone! Low-fat banana bread instead. | Lululemon | Weightwatchers | 2 | January 14th, 2004 11:07 PM |
Davinci Egg Nog syrup...tastes more like banana to me! | Kalish | Low Carbohydrate Diets | 21 | December 5th, 2003 01:45 AM |
REC: Banana bread | Reb | Low Carbohydrate Diets | 1 | September 29th, 2003 05:07 AM |