Comment · Tue, March 10, 2015 · Ceretropic
Would it be correct to say that l-tryptophan is superior to 5-HTP for correcting serotonin deficiency (since 5-HTP bypasses natural rate limiting)?
Original post in this thread
CharlesStross · 2 points
Just making sure I understand the principle correctly.
EDIT: I'm not taking either of these, I have no reason to think I'm serotonin deficient, I'm just double checking that the 5-HTP is going to give you more serotonin, faster, and bypass the body's natural rate limit at the tryptophan hydroxylase stage.
What they were answering
Jackolysis · 3 points
Mk then. Serotonin Im going to call it 5-ht for our purposes here is synthesised in a 2 step synthesis from L-tryptophan. The first is by Tryptophan hydroxylase this is the slower step in the conversion, thus limits the amount of serotonin that can be produced from available tryptophan. If your Tryptophan Hydroxylase is significantly downregulated it's possible you'd have a deficiency. Vitamin D has been shown to increase levels of Tryptophan Hydroxylase. The other step is AADC. This converts the 5-htp into 5-ht. This step is influenced by vitamin b6 which appears to bea cofactor in conversion. Mutation or downregulation in this enzyme could also cause deficiency.
Thus it's really up to enzymes, but it's highly unlikely anyone is actually deficient in it. But 5-HTP would probably result in more serotonin.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic
I always type out aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase, since it not only converts 5-HTP to serotonin, but also L-DOPA to dopamine. That is a big part of the issue with taking 5-HTP long term, and is kind of lost when people call the enzyme 5-HTP/DOPA decarboxylase.