Tryptophan. A word I learned just last week when I was hell-bent on finding as many natural approaches to remedying sleep deprivation that I could find. Tryptophan is an essential amino acid in the human diet which means that it cannot be synthesized by humans and therefore must be part of our diet.
Many people find tryptophan to be a safe and reasonably effective sleep aid, probably due to its ability to increas
e brain levels of serotonin (a calming neurotransmitter when present in moderate levels) and/or melatonin (a sleep-inducing hormone secreted by the pineal gland in response to darkness or low light levels.)
I found this diagram at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tryptophan that reflects foods high in tryptophan. I'm not sure what a dried egg white is. Or dried spirulina? And although I do know what dried cod and caribou are, I am pretty sure I'm not consuming them before bedtime, or anytime, in the near future. But soybeans I can try and pumpkin seeds? Love 'em!
And note: Have you heard about turkey being a sleep inducer? According to this chart . . .it's a big fat myth. It's all of those carbs you have with that bird that knocks you out on a Thanksgiving afternoon.
Tryptophan (Trp) Content of Various Foods
| egg, white, dried |
81.10
|
1.00
|
1.23
|
| spirulina, dried |
57.47
|
0.93
|
1.62
|
| cod, atlantic, dried |
62.82
|
0.70
|
1.11
|
| soybeans, raw |
36.49
|
0.59
|
1.62
|
| pumpkin seed |
33.08
|
0.57
|
1.72
|
| cheese, Parmesan |
37.90
|
0.56
|
1.47
|
| caribou |
29.77
|
0.46
|
1.55
|
| sesame seed |
17.00
|
0.37
|
2.17
|
| cheese, cheddar |
24.90
|
0.32
|
1.29
|
| sunflower seed |
17.20
|
0.30
|
1.74
|
| pistachio |
21.00
|
0.28
|
1.3
|
| cashew |
17.00
|
0.25
|
1.47
|
| pork, chop |
19.27
|
0.25
|
1.27
|
| turkey |
21.89
|
0.24
|
1.11
|
| chicken |
20.85
|
0.24
|
1.14
|
| beef |
20.13
|
0.23
|
1.12
|
| salmon |
19.84
|
0.22
|
1.12
|
| lamb, chop |
18.33
|
0.21
|
1.17
|
| perch, Atlantic |
18.62
|
0.21
|
1.12
|
| almond |
21.00
|
0.21
|
1.00
|
| egg |
12.58
|
0.17
|
1.33
|
| wheat flour, white |
10.33
|
0.13
|
1.23
|
| baking chocolate, unsweetened |
12.9
|
0.13
|
1.23
|
| milk |
3.22
|
0.08
|
2.34
|
| rice, white |
7.13
|
0.08
|
1.16
|
| oatmeal, cooked |
2.54
|
0.04
|
1.16
|
| potatoes, russet |
2.14
|
0.02
|
0.84
|
| banana |
1.03
|
0.01
|
0.87 |
This is great info. Because of my pain levels I have taken everything under the sky to help me sleep and rest at night. Looks like a nice "trail mix" made of pumpkin seeds, pistachio, cashews, sesame seeds and almonds might be a great sleep aide!
ReplyDeleteGlad to see your new blog ;)
A trail mix ~ sure, Terry. I did discover that dried/powdered egg whites can be added to a bedtime smoothie.
ReplyDeleteSpirulina ~ Spirulina is a Microalgae that can be consumed by humans and animals. It is usually taken by humans as a nutritional supplement and is made primarily from two species of cyanobacteria.
Because spirulina is a dietary supplement, the United States Food and Drug Administration does not regulate the production and quality of the product. Currently, no standard exists to regulate the safety of spirulina in the U.S.
The U.S. National Institutes of Health describes spirulina supplements as "possibly safe", provided they are free of microcystin contamination, but "likely unsafe" (especially for children) if contaminated. Given the lack of regulatory standards in the U.S., public-health researchers have raised the concern that consumers cannot be sure that spirulina and other blue-green algae supplements are free of contamination.
For that, I would stick to trail mix. Or caribou. :)