Comment · Wed, July 9, 2014 · Ceretropic
How does 5-hour energy have no crash?
Original post in this thread
SpinCity07 · 22 points
Just wondering how I can make my own crash free coffee.
The ingredients are:
Niacin,
B6,
B12,
CDP-Choline,
Glucuronolactone,
NALT,
Taurine,
Malic Acid,
Caffeine
which one of these is stopping the crash?
What they were answering
MessingerofDeath · 4 points
I shouldn't have presented it as fact, but there is a big debate in the supplement world over whether taking vitamin B6 with supplements is useful. Because B6 is a cofactor for many enzymes that metabolize amino acids, many people take it with supplements to increase their conversion of amino acids into neurotransmitters, such as 5-HTP to serotonin. Many other people argue that taking B6 with amino acids can cause metabolism of such amino acids into neurotransmitters before they reach the brain. Because most if not all neurotransmitters are water-soluble, not fat-soluble, they cannot cross the blood brain barrier, so producing them before their fat-soluble precursors enter the brain is pointless at best. Unfortunately there has been almost no research into the matter, so it is difficult to say for certain, but the logic makes sense to me so I take B supplements an hour or two after amino acids now. I figure that if the latter theory is correct, then I'm preventing possibly unsafe levels of serotonin from affecting my heart and making my supplements more efficient. If the former theory is correct, then it doesn't make a huge difference that I space out my supplements anyways.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic
Ohh, I agree on the serotonin front. I tell people all the time that it is silly to take B6 with 5-HTP, as it just catalyzes the conversion in the periphery. That is also why I tell people to take EGCG with their 5-HTP, to inhibit peripheral aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase. However, L-theanine does not, to my knowledge, use B6 as a cofactor for its metabolism, nor is is a precursor like 5-HTP. It is hydrolyzed to ethylamine and glutamic acid.