Posted by torchgrl on February 10, 2000, at 1:06:49
In reply to Hellooo!! , posted by Victoria on February 10, 2000, at 0:11:12
> I'm new kid on the block. I just jumped in with my prior posting, but would like to get some feed back on various issues. I went back and read everyones input on the 5HTP and SAMe. I'm curious about pricing.It is my understanding that the reason for the high cost of drugs was patent related, i.e., drug companies add man-made compounds to naturel compounds so they can patent them thereby charge an arm and a leg. The lady at my local health food store showed me a bottle of what was supposed to be 5-HTP, but they were asking $30 for it and it had other ingrediants. Some one told me that the actual ingrediants in 5-HTP was St Johns, Kava and 3 other herbs, hence the "5". John, possibly you know the story or this or if anyone does, I'd like to know. Thanks
Victoria,
No, 5HTP is a substance unto itself, completely different from St.John's Wort, Kava Kava et al. And a lot of the natural stuff is actually much MORE expensive sometimes, *because* the (supposedly) active ingredient(s) AREN'T manufactured in bulk, but have to be cultivated, etc.
I'm not going to even attempt to explain what 5-HTP is (especially not at this hour!)--there are others here who can do a much better job of it, depending on how much detail you want. It's similar to SAM-E in that it occurs naturally in the brain, as well. I just thought I'd give you the quick/short answer...
poster:torchgrl
thread:20960
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000209/msgs/20964.html