More questions then: Would the effects of carbs be anything like the supposed effects of tryptophan? And does eating a normal sized portion of turkey or drinking a glass of warm milk really do anything measurable within a human being?
Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---- Original message ---- >Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 11:31:44 -0400 (EDT) >From: David Epstein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re:[tips] serotonin and popcorn? >To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> > >On Sun, 30 Sep 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] went: > >> I ran across a sentence alluding to expresso and popcorn as caffeine >> and serotonin. >> >> I googled 'serotonin popcorn' and indeed found quite a literature on >> the relationship, but none of it from very reputable websites. >> >> Does anyone on tips have better info that is more scientific? > >My Googlage suggests that it's basically about the carbohydrate >content of the popcorn, not about popcorn specifically, so I guess we >can trace it back to this: > ><http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/174/4013/1023> > > Science 3 December 1971: 174 (4013): 1023 - 1025 > > Brain Serotonin Content: Increase Following Ingestion of > Carbohydrate Diet > > "In the rat, the injection of insulin or the consumption of > carbohydrate causes sequential increases in the concentrations of > tryptophan in the plasma and the brain and of serotonin in the > brain. Serotonin-containing neurons may thus participate in systems > whereby the rat brain integrates information about the metabolic > state in its relation to control of homeostatis and behavior." > >But the assays were done in whole brain, and serotonin has vastly >different effects in different parts of the brain. > >And: > ><http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/71/6/1669S> > > "Such functional effects [on brain levels of serotonin] are also > reputed to accompany the ingestion of carbohydrates and, in rats, > are said to involve a known action of carbohydrate ingestion to > stimulate brain tryptophan uptake and serotonin synthesis. The > functional effects of administering...carbohydrates are relatively > small, however, compared with the actions produced by administering > potent drugs that enhance serotonin function in the brain, and it is > not currently known whether the smaller effects of...carbohydrates > are functionally useful." > >--David Epstein > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >--- ---
