Abstract
THE rate at which the brain synthesizes serotonin varies physiologically as a function of its tryptophan concentration1,2. It has been shown that brain tryptophan, in turn, depends on the relative concentrations in plasma or serum of tryptophan and of the other neutral amino acids which compete with it for uptake into the brain3. Thus, carbohydrate ingestion, which raises plasma tryptophan while depressing the concentrations of its competitors, increases the amount of tryptophan in the brain and accelerates synthesis of serotonin in young rats4; on the other hand, protein consumption causes proportionately greater increases in the other neutral amino acids than in plasma tryptophan, and thus fails to elevate brain tryptophan or serotonin3.
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MADRAS, B., COHEN, E., FERNSTROM, J. et al. Dietary Carbohydrate Increases Brain Tryptophan and Decreases Free Plasma Tryptophan. Nature 244, 34–35 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/244034a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/244034a0
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