"Are You a Turkey When It Comes to L-Tryptophan?"
By Guest Author, Lucho Crisalle
Here in the U.S., Thanksgiving is the start of the holiday season and most people look forward to the Thanksgiving dinner all year long – turkey, mashed and/or sweet potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce and of course, pie. Yummmm. You could easily consume over 2000 calories in one sitting (without even counting the alcohol calories)!!! Although turkey is often cited as the culprit in the after-dinner lethargy, is gobbling up all that turkey really to blame?
Well, not exactly. Turkey does contain L-tryptophan, an essential amino acid with a documented sleep inducing effect. When we eat foods that contain L-tryptophan, this amino acid travels in the blood from the digestive system and later enters the brain. The brain then changes the L-tryptophan into serotonin – which calms us down and helps us sleep.
However, L-tryptophan can really only make a person tired right away if it is eaten or taken by itself without any other amino acids. And the protein in turkey contains plenty of other amino acids – and that’s not including all the other food on the Thanksgiving table.
It’s worth noting that other foods contain close to the same amount of tryptophan than turkey (0.333 grams of tryptophan per 100 gram edible portion), including chicken (0.292 grams per 100 gram edible portion), pork and cheese. As with turkey, other amino acids are present in these foods besides tryptophan, so they don’t make you sleepy either.
It’s More Than Just Tryptophan
Instead of just turkey being to blame, nutrition experts and scientists believe that one reason you may feel sleepy after your Thanksgiving feast is actually that carbohydrate-rich meal that leads to a much higher serotonin synthesis than does L-tryptophan found in turkey. Think of all those starchy, sugar-containing foods like bread, yams, potatoes, pumpkin pie, etc.
You see, these carbohydrates stimulate the pancreas to secrete insulin. When this occurs, some amino acids that compete with tryptophan leave the bloodstream and enter muscle cells. This causes an increase in the relative concentration of tryptophan in the bloodstream. Serotonin is synthesized and you get that sleepy feeling.
And, eating a big Thanksgiving dinner causes increased blood flow to the stomach (needed to help digest the meal) and less blood flow to the brain.
Not only that, but the fats in the Thanksgiving dinner slow down the digestive system. Fats also take a lot of energy to digest, so the body will need to redirect blood to your digestive system to tackle the job.
And if that isn’t enough, add in the alcohol, which is a central nervous system depressant, and a nap is just around the corner!
Thank you to my Guest Author Lucho Crisalle of Exercise & Nutrition Works, Inc., P.O. Box 60489 , Irvine, CA 92602 | Contact by Phone Call: 949-713-WORKS (9675) www.ExerciseAndNutritionWorks.com |
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