History Of Tryptophan

By Author: David Oromaner
Total Articles: 6
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From 1980 until 1990 tryptophan was by far the most popular and respected natural sleep aid available at health food stores. In early1990 the United States Food and Drug Administration decided to remove all the tryptophan from health food store shelves due to a sudden outbreak of an illness called Eosinophilic-myalgia syndrome that occurred among some individuals who had taken the natural sleep aid. After the United States government decided to ban the product most of the other industrialized countries soon followed the lead. Ultimately almost five thousand people reported getting sick and twenty seven people died from the serious illness. The symptoms included muscle pain, weakness, and severe joint pain. A lengthy investigation determined that the problem was a contaminated batch that was manufactured by a Japanese company called Showa Denko KK, which had recently changed a production process to incorporate genetically engineered bacteria. The ban remained in effect until two thousand and one.

In February of 2001, the Food and Drug Administration finally decided to lift the ban on selling tryptophan, but kept an importation ...
... restriction. Meaning all had to be manufactured within the United States borders. This is the statement that they released:

"Based on the scientific evidence that is available at the present time, we cannot determine with certainty that the occurrence of EMS in susceptible persons consuming L-tryptophan supplements derives from the content of L-tryptophan, an impurity contained in the L-tryptophan, or a combination of the two in association with other, as yet unknown, external factors."

Since 2002, tryptophan has been readily available again in the United States and no reports of Eosinophilic-myalgia syndrome have been reported. Most other industrialized countries have followed the United States as well. There are definitely manufacturing companies currently making high quality tryptophan products. I believe it is currently safe for people to use. It is a main precursor of the well known sleep-inducing substances serotonin and melatonin. This means it is one of the raw materials that the human brain uses to manufacture these very important and needed relaxing neurotransmitters. By taking it in supplement form we are making more available to produce the neurotransmitters that are absolutely necessary to induce deep sleep. With out proper deep sleep we a re very susceptible to many serious health conditions. Sleep is of the utmost importance.

Melatonin is currently the most popular and well respected of the natural sleeping aids available. It is a more direct precursor to serotonin than is tryptophan. Melatonin is also much cheaper. I almost always will recommend melatonin to my clients as the first thing to try to resolve sleep problems naturally. But one thing I have found is that for some reason the people that do not respond well to melatonin can sometimes find it effective. For many people it is a useful natural sleep aid, but tryptophan has never really regained the popularity that it once enjoyed prior to 1990. And, yes there is large amount of it in turkey meat. It is why we feel so sleepy after thanksgiving dinner.
David Oromaner is a nutritional supplement specialist. He owns Guaranteed Supplement Designs that develops and distributes cutting edge natural products such as the natural sleep aid GuaranteedToSleep. It is considered to be the best alternative to traditional sleeping aids.