Posted by BarbaraCat on May 18, 2004, at 16:02:19
In reply to tryptophan better again, posted by LOOPS on May 17, 2004, at 20:01:07
> I don't know why tryptophan isn't more widely available.
>
**Back in the late 80's there was an attempt by Denko Pharmaceuticals to hurry along the fermenting procedure by which tryp is made by doing some DNA splicing. This process caused a condition called Eosinophilia-Myalgia Syndrome — EMS. It was only a relatively small batch and the procedure was banned but it killed some people. Since then tryp is back to being produced the old safe way, but the public and FDA never recovered from the scare and tryp was taken off the shelves and banned for human use. This all happened just around the time SSRI's were the new wonder drug - coindidence? I think not. Getting it from vet supplies is about the only way outside of a compounding pharmacy prescription to get it.I've been doing research on tryp for some time and it's much more crucial to enzyme and cellular functioning than just serotonin production in the brain. 5-HTP bypasses an important precursor step and completely misses the point of tryp's many functions. Most sources say that 'it's just as good if not better than tryptophan'. T'aint so.
poster:BarbaraCat
thread:256950
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20040418/msgs/348271.html