monty
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Ok, a longer list of tryptophan as a percent of LNAA:
Sesame seed flour, 9.17 Wheat flour, whole grain, 7.94 Potato, baked, flesh and skin, 7.48 Cocoa powder, unsweetened, 7.05 Quinoa, uncooked, 7.04 Wheat flour, white, 13% protein, 6.99 Oyster mushroom, raw, 6.96 Tofu, made with nigari, 6.92 Amaranth grain, uncooked, 6.82 Sunflower seeds, 6.79 Whey milk protein, sweet, dried, 6.46 Pumpkin seed (pepitas), 6.37 Shrimp, mixed species, cooked moist heat, 6.25 Soybeans, mature seeds, boiled, 6.25 Pistachio nuts, roasted, salted, 6.23 Peanut butter, smooth, no salt, 5.78 Banana, 5.57 Rice, brown, long grained, cooked, 5.49 Chicken, broilers or fryers, breast, stewed, 5.25 Lamb, trimmed retail cuts, cooked, 5.18 Coconut water, 5.12 Dates, Medjool, 5.12 Egg, whole, omlet, 5.08 Cod, broiled, 5.01 Salmon, broiled, 5.01 Beans, baked, canned, plain, 4.81 Turkey Breast, 4.81 Milk, skim, 4.73 Bologna, Pork, 4.66 Corn flour, whole grain yellow, 2.75 Ground Beef, 80% lean, 2.26 Yogurt, plain, skim milk, 1.9
Thoughts:
1) Don't eat crunchy beef tacos! Corn and beef are very low in tryptophan compared to other LNAAs, and a diet heavy in either of these could reduce the amount of serotonin that can formed in the brain. Lamb is a better red meat with respect to tryptophan (and in many other ways, IMO).
2) Turkey is over-rated when it comes to tryptophan. It is equal to baked beans, less than chicken and many other foods. Actually calculating which foods have the best ratio gives a rather different list than is spread in the urban legends and oral traditions. I have long said that the Thanksgiving drowsiness is due to eating way too much, not to the amount of tryptophan in turkey. I have taken a large dose of pure tryptophan on an empty stomach, and it has never made me feel like I feel after stuffing myself on Thanksgiving day.
3) A desert dessert concoction of dates, sesame paste, pistachios, sunflower seeds, and maybe a little chocolate and honey could be good - Halva is pretty popular across the Mediterranean ... it is based on ground sesame seeds, and sometimes contains some of the other things I mentioned. Dates have a good ratio of tryptophan, but the total amount is low ... but they are sweet and tasty, so could be a good mix.
4) Wheat is better than rice, whole wheat is better than white refined wheat. All of these are better than most meats if the goal is to raise brain tryptophan/serotonin.
5) Milk is not that great of a source of tryptophan, but one particular protein in milk (alpha-lactalbumin) is much better. Some of the research on the effects of diet and neurotransmitters uses a purified form of this protein. So far, I haven't found a supplement that is pure alpha-lactalbumin, except when buying in huge volume (1000 kg dried). Whey protein (which is used by many in bodybuilding) is better than normal milk. Yogurt may be good for many reasons, but tryptophan is not one of them.
Foods that are high in protein can overwhelm those that are are medium or low protein. For example, combining four ounces of beef with 4 ounces of wheat bread would not be the average of the two... not ((7.94+2.26)/2) or 5.1. Since the meat has about 3 -4 times more protein than bread per ounce, the true weighted average for a hamburger would be down around 3.4 to 3.7, which is still quite low. A quarter pounder lambburger would weigh in around 5.8, which is considerably better.
A stir-fry dish with shrimp, tofu, wheat noodles and a good dash of ground sesame would be above 7 -- twice as much brain-available tryptophan as a hamburger.
More reasonable over the long term - if someone's diet had a weighted average of 4-5, and they raised it to a 6, that could translate to a 20% to 50% increase in the tryptophan available to the brain. I've run some sample diets, and think that a 20-25% increase is possible without banning or prohibiting any foods, simply eating less of the foods on the low end, more on the high end.
This could actually be done consuming the same amount of tryptophan, so I don't think the enzymes to degrade tryptophan would go up, unless they are controlled by the balance of LNAA instead of the amount of tryptophan.
Because the mechanism for transporting LNAA to the brain is relatively slow and gets saturated, the timing of the food may be important as Gonazalo previously said. Eating foods with a high score first (morning meal, pre-meal (soup/salad) and snacks/empty stomach) could make a difference.
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