Posted by King Vultan on November 19, 2004, at 17:11:01
In reply to more MAOI diet questions, posted by KaraS on November 19, 2004, at 16:08:12
> I'm still a bit confused about the diet. I know that yeast extract and soy preparations can be very dangerous to take while on an MAOI. I still don't understand how you can know about the contents of food when you go out to eat. There are so many sauces and prepared foods used by restaurants these days that contain yeast extract, soy protein isolate, teriaki sauce, some grated parmesan cheese used as a spice etc. Even if you ask the wait people, chances are you're not going to find out that these are in the food as the cooks themselves probably don't even know it. I know that this hasn't been a big problem for people here who take MAOIs but I don't understand why not. If anyone can shed some light on this for me, I'd really appreciate it.
>
> Thanks,
> Kara
Grated parmesan cheese does not have a huge amount of tyramine in it. If it is just being used as a spice, I would not worry about it. The yeast extract that is problematic is Marmite, which I honestly know nothing about other than it is apparently available at some health food stores. Other yeast extracts, such as brewer's yeast, do not have significant amounts of tyramine. Soy products can contain significant amounts of tyramine, but the most important one does seem to be soy sauce; although, there is definitely a wide variability between different brands, and there may be some lot to lot differences, as well. I guess if I were ordering something I was not familiar with, I would just ask if it had any soy sauce in it. I have bought some prepared foods myself with levels of soy sauce low enough so that, in my judgement, they were highly unlikely to prove problematic, and I did not experience any problems. I am also currently using some low fat peanut butter that is augmented with some kind of soy protein and have not noticed anything (I actually bought it by mistake but am too thrifty to throw away food unless it is old or unedible). OTOH, I was looking at a new low carb cereal that had soy grits and perhaps concentrated soy protein as major ingredients, and I was simply not comfortable enough to buy it. In general, though, I will say that carrying nifedipine does tend to act as a psychological safety blanket and negate a lot of needless worrying, but I think if a person takes reasonable care, there should be no reason to ever have to use it. Some MAOI patients even eat the prohibited foods indiscriminately and get away with it in many cases, but I do believe this is extraordinarily unwise.Todd
poster:King Vultan
thread:417987
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041118/msgs/418015.html