Turning to turkey’s tryptophan to boost mood? Not so fast

By Andrew Neff, Rochester UniversityThose smiles probably aren’t thanks to tryptophan. Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.comEvery Thanksgiving, myths of the quasi-magical powers of tryptophan rise again.There’s the turkey/drowsiness myth: Eating lots of juicy turkey meat supposedly makes people feel tired because it contains an amino acid called tryptophan. This molecule travels into the brain, where it’s converted into a neurotransmitter called serotonin, which in turn is converted into a hormone called melatonin. Voila! Sleepiness.What could eating more tryptophan, or taking it in pill form, mean for your brain?Evan Lorne/Shutterstock.comBut science and the internet agree: It’s not the turkey’s tryptophan to blame for your post-feast nap. All protein sources, and even vegetables, contain some tryptophan; turkey isn’t at all special in this regard.So the sleepiness myth of turkey may be fading, but other legends around tryptophan’s effects in the brain are taking hold. Some people are eyeing tryptophan supplements as an unconventional treatment for depression. Others are curious whether eating foods that are high or low in tryptophan could be useful for influencing mood. Recently, some scientists have even proposed that gut bacteria are driving changes in emotion by producing or breaking down tryptophan.This tryptophan/mood connection is an area of ongoing research. And...