With the passing of Thanksgiving in both Canada and the United States, many families across the continent celebrated by gathering for a big meal - with turkey as one of the main dishes! Tryptophan is an essential amino acid found in turkey.
An amino acid that is essential means that the human body can’t produce it on its own, so we need to supplement our diet by eating food that contains the amino acid. Not only is it essential for humans, but for cats and dogs too - just don’t give them too much of your table scraps!
Does Tryptophan Make You Sleepy?
Does Tryptophan Make You Sleepy?
There has long been an urban legend that eating turkey - and the tryptophan it contains - will make you sleepy. This myth could come from a couple of different theories: the most prominent is that when you start digesting food, your parasympathetic nervous system kicks in. Unlike the sympathetic nervous system - which controls your “fight or flight” responses to certain situations - the parasympathetic nervous system is in charge of resting and digesting. Without any other outside stimulation or other priorities, your body is free to focus on recharging and digesting food. So when the parasympathetic nervous system takes over, you feel relaxed or sleepy while your digestive system gets to work.
The discussion of tryptophan and drowsiness comes up most often around Thanksgiving, when many people eat copious amounts of food - not just turkey! Eating a meal high in carbohydrates triggers the pancreas to release insulin, which stimulates the uptake of all amino acids but tryptophan. When this happens, there’s a higher concentration of tryptophan in the bloodstream. Now, tryptophan can be converted into serotonin and further metabolized into melatonin - the neurotransmitter that controls drowsiness. So in a way, eating lots of turkey could cause you to feel sleepy, but only if you eat even more carbohydrates with it.
Turkey isn’t the only food that contains this amino acid! In fact, pork chops, sunflower seeds, and parmesan cheese all have a greater concentration of tryptophan than turkey. And chicken has just as much, so you don’t need turkey to benefit from the tryptophan in poultry.
The discussion of tryptophan and drowsiness comes up most often around Thanksgiving, when many people eat copious amounts of food - not just turkey! Eating a meal high in carbohydrates triggers the pancreas to release insulin, which stimulates the uptake of all amino acids but tryptophan. When this happens, there’s a higher concentration of tryptophan in the bloodstream. Now, tryptophan can be converted into serotonin and further metabolized into melatonin - the neurotransmitter that controls drowsiness. So in a way, eating lots of turkey could cause you to feel sleepy, but only if you eat even more carbohydrates with it.
Turkey isn’t the only food that contains this amino acid! In fact, pork chops, sunflower seeds, and parmesan cheese all have a greater concentration of tryptophan than turkey. And chicken has just as much, so you don’t need turkey to benefit from the tryptophan in poultry.
Test This at Home!
For this activity, you’ll need something you can use to take notes (such as a journal), about six ounces of turkey, and a 500 mg tryptophan tablet. On the first day, eat a meal that contains turkey and monitor your level of drowsiness in the journal. According to the article “How Much Tryptophan is in Poultry?” there’s about 270 milligrams of tryptophan in a three-ounce serving of light meat turkey, so six ounces would be pretty close to 500 milligrams.
The next day, take the tryptophan tablet and record how you feel again. Compare the notes and see if you can notice a difference!
References:
Busch, Sandi. "How Much Tryptophan is in Poultry?" SFGATE.com. Accessed on 11/24/17.
Image Credits:
“Structure of L-Tryptophan”. Released into the public domain. Uploaded on 11/24/17 from commons.wikimedia.org
Kratochvil, Petr. “Christmas Turkey”. Released into the public domain. Uploaded on 11/24/17 from publicdomainpictures.net
Mueller, Aline. “Sunflower”. Released into the public domain. Uploaded on 11/26/17 from publicdomainpictures.net
Frerichs, Lilla. “Carving the Turkey”. Released into the public domain. Uploaded on 11/26/17 from publicdomainpictures.net
For this activity, you’ll need something you can use to take notes (such as a journal), about six ounces of turkey, and a 500 mg tryptophan tablet. On the first day, eat a meal that contains turkey and monitor your level of drowsiness in the journal. According to the article “How Much Tryptophan is in Poultry?” there’s about 270 milligrams of tryptophan in a three-ounce serving of light meat turkey, so six ounces would be pretty close to 500 milligrams.
The next day, take the tryptophan tablet and record how you feel again. Compare the notes and see if you can notice a difference!
References:
Busch, Sandi. "How Much Tryptophan is in Poultry?" SFGATE.com. Accessed on 11/24/17.
Image Credits:
“Structure of L-Tryptophan”. Released into the public domain. Uploaded on 11/24/17 from commons.wikimedia.org
Kratochvil, Petr. “Christmas Turkey”. Released into the public domain. Uploaded on 11/24/17 from publicdomainpictures.net
Mueller, Aline. “Sunflower”. Released into the public domain. Uploaded on 11/26/17 from publicdomainpictures.net
Frerichs, Lilla. “Carving the Turkey”. Released into the public domain. Uploaded on 11/26/17 from publicdomainpictures.net
