IS DEPRESSION A SEROTONIN DEFICIENCY?
An alternative approach to anti-depressant drugs is to give the nutrients our bodies use to make more of these neurotransmitters. Serotonin, for example, is made from the protein constituent tryptophan, in the presence of sufficient vitamin 133, B6, zinc etc. Tryptophan acts as an effective anti-depressant for some patients and tryptophan depletion can induce depression in recovered depressed patients. This has been well demonstrated by research at Oxford University’s Department of Psychiatry, in which 15 women with a history of depression were given a diet excluding or including tryptophan under double-blind conditions9. Ten out of fifteen experienced clinically significant symptoms of depression on the tryptophan-free diet, while none experienced mood changes on the diet including tryptophan. Tryptophan rich foods include fish, turkey, chicken, cottage cheese, avocados, bananas and wheatgerm. Generally speaking, results with 1-tryptophan have been good, although not all trials have f
