Tag: health

Tryptophan

Today’s post is about Tryptophan.

In our last post about Depression, Scott mentioned that the nutrients we need for good mental health include vitamin B6, tryptophan, zinc, iron and folate. So, today we are going to focus on tryptophan.

So, what is it?

Tryptophan is an essential amino acid, meaning that it cannot be produced in the body and so must come from food.

It plays a fundamental role in human nutrition and health and is required for normal growth. The body uses it to create several bioactive compounds including vitamin B6, serotonin and melatonin. It is required for the production and maintenance of the body’s proteins, muscles, enzymes, and neurotransmitters. The liver can also use tryptophan to produce niacin (vitamin B3), which is needed for energy metabolism and DNA production.

Its role in animal and human health can therefore impact on many diseases and conditions.

What is the connection to mental health?

Being one of the main building blocks for serotonin it is quite important to have a plentiful supply. It is a natural sedative and is one reason that you feel sleepy after a big meal of protein like turkey at Christmas. Research has also shown that if you have a low-tryptophan diet, brain serotonin levels drop.

Tryptophan can potentially be used by the body for a lot of different things but most of them lead back to serotonin, so lets have a look.

Because tryptophan helps make serotonin, which is responsible for things like arousal, perception, pain and mood, anything in those areas can be altered by tryptophan. For example, if you are trying to give up smoking, taking tryptophan supplements may help to reduce the cravings by changing your perception. In addition, low amounts of tryptophan in the body may contribute to depression and sleep disorders.

Serotonin also mixes with something called Sam-e to make melatonin that is a big player in the sleep wake cycle. Theoretically it can even be used to help with ADHD as low serotonin can show as poor impulse control.

Can diet make a difference ?

Tryptophan is commonly found in foods that contain protein. Although meat is often a key source of protein for many people, there are also many vegetarian and vegan sources as well as a supplement in powder form.

Interestingly if you suffer from fructose mal-absorption then this can reduce the levels of tryptophan that is available for use.

The following foods are good sources of tryptophan:

Salmon, Poultry, Eggs, Spinach, Seeds (such as pumpkin, sesame & sunflower), Milk, Nuts and Soy products.

So ensuring that your diet contains a variety of these foods can assist in maintaining your body’s levels of this essential amino acid.

 

It is easy to see that within the human body one little thing leads to another and then another. The body is a tangled web of neurotransmitters, enzymes, proteins and things that all interact with each other.

Tryptophan can react with a large number of other substances including herbal remedies so as always consult a professional before taking. Side effects can include tiredness, heartburn, GIT upset and headaches.

Till the next post,

 

Live clean n Prosper

Memory loss – Peri-menopause or Ageing?

Todays post is about Memory loss, is it Peri-menopause or Ageing?

Over the last few months, some of my female work colleagues and I have been discussing how occasionally we find ourselves suffering from a lack of concentration, memory loss and feeling a bit ‘scatterbrained’.

This got me thinking. Is this a sign of ageing or is this is another reminder of ‘peri-menopause’? Or maybe both!

About Memory

Webster’s Dictionary defines memory as “the mental capacity or faculty of retaining or recalling facts, events, impressions, or previous experiences”. Therefore memory loss would be fleeting periods when a person loses the mental capacity or faculty of retaining or recalling information.

As we get older, one of the most common changes that we notice is memory change.

Scientists say that the brain begins to lose sharpness of memory and powers of reasoning and understanding not from 60 as previously thought, but from as early as 45.

Their evidence comes from a large study of more than 7,000 civil servants aged between 45 and 70. The 5,000 men and 2,000 women agreed to undergo verbal and written tests on three occasions over a 10-year period for what is called the Whitehall II study.

Knowledge of how memory changes as we get older is a lot more positive than in the past. Memory change with healthy ageing certainly doesn’t interfere with everyday life in a dramatic way.
However, everyone is different and the effect of getting older on memory is different for each person.
Ageing can affect the memory in different ways, such as attention processes, the ability to get new information into storage, the time it takes to recall things, and “on the tip of the tongue” experiences.

Research also suggests that immediate memory and lifetime memory do not change as we get older.

The difficulty of being able to think straight is also a common symptom associated with the onset of peri-menopause.

What causes memory loss during peri-menopause?

In the case of memory lapses, oestrogen plays a special key role. It has a large effect on the functions of the brain and influences language skills, mood, attention, and a number of other functions, including memory. Oestrogen is directly linked to verbal word fluency (the ability to remember names and words). It’s no wonder then that as a woman’s oestrogen levels begin to drop, her memory may suffer.

Many women start to experience peri-menopausal symptoms from the age of 45 onwards.

Add to that now that our memory is affected by ageing from the age of 45 onwards, ageing women have a lot to deal with.

All is not lost, as there are some things we can do to exercise our brain and improve our brain ‘fitness’.

  • Avoid harmful substances and eat a well balanced diet. Excessive drinking and drug abuse damages brain cells.
  • Challenge the brain by reading widely, keeping mentally active, and learning new skills. These pursuits strengthen the brain connections and promote new ones.
  • Make sure we get regular and adequate sleep.
  • Use a notepad and carry a calendar. This may not keep your memory sharp, but does compensate for any memory lapses.
  • Organise some of those personal belongings. Use a special place for necessary items, such as car keys and glasses.

 

All of this science is great and helps me to understand that it’s not ‘just me’, though it does not help my brain cope with the occasional lapses in memory.

However, dairies and calendars have become quite important fixtures in my life lately. This ensures I don’t forget important things. I will also keep up my creative pursuits, quizzes and crossword puzzles for that bit of ‘brain training’.

Till the next post,

 

Live Clean n Prosper

Sources – www.fightdementia.org.au – www.theguardian.com

Which diet is healthier?

Todays post is about which diet is healthier for us.

This weekend I read an article in the paper about the different diets that are getting press lately. This got me thinking. There are so many different opinions and studies regarding diet and health. Many conflict each other and it gets very confusing.

I have looked at few popular diets and found research both for and against.

The Paleo diet

Promoted by several nigh profile chefs and dieticians, this emulates the diet of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. It is based on the premise that they did not suffer from the same diseases as modern humans.

This diet advocates consumption of unprocessed animals and plants, including meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds.

It shuns processed foods, sugar, dairy and grains, although some of the more modern “versions” of paleo do allow foods like dairy and rice.

5 human studies have been done on the paleo diet so far. All of these studies are done with humans and are published in respected, peer-reviewed scientific journals.

The results of these studies were positive in regards to health improvements and weight loss.

The Vegan diet

The vegan diet is growing in popularity. Advocates claim that it offers various health benefits, ranging from weight loss and reduced blood sugar to prevention of heart disease, cancer and premature death.

Vegetarian and vegan diets can be healthy, but they can lack certain nutrients. You may have to use a little creativity to ensure you get enough protein, calcium, iron, and vitamin B12.

The problem, however, is that no studies exist of populations where omnivores share similar genetic profiles, similar lifestyle patterns, and similar social and environmental factors with a significant number of vegans.

Therefore, most studies on vegan diets are observational. This makes it difficult to know if the benefits observed are actually caused by the vegan diet itself. Of the 16 human based studies that have been conducted. The results of these were positive in regards to health and weigh loss.

Low carb and Low fat diets

Few things have been debated as much as “carbohydrates vs fat.”

Some believe that increased fat in the diet is a leading cause of all kinds of health problems, especially heart disease.

This is the position maintained by most mainstream health organisations. These organisations generally recommend that people restrict dietary fat to less than 30% of total calories (a low-fat diet).

However… in the past 11 years, an increasing number of studies have been challenging the low-fat dietary approach.

Many health professionals now believe that a low-carb diet (higher in fat and protein) is a much better option to treat obesity and other chronic, Western diseases.

The authority Nutrition site looks at 23 studies that compare the 2 diets.

The majority of studies achieved statistically significant differences in weight loss (always in favour of low-carb).

Keep in mind that all of these studies are randomised controlled trials, the gold standard of science. These studies are scientific evidence, as good as it gets, that low-carb is much more effective than the low-fat diet that is still being recommended all over the world.

The 5:2 diet

Then there is the 5:2 fasting diet, which is actually very simple to explain. For five days a week, you eat normally and don’t have to think about restricting calories.

Then, on the other two days, you reduce your calorie intake to a quarter of your daily needs. This is about 500 calories per day for women, and 600 for men.

There are very few studies that test the 5:2 diet specifically. However, there are plenty of studies on intermittent fasting as a whole, which show impressive health benefits.

I have just put together a small sample of the information found on 2 websites. These sites did not have any articles stating that any of these diets were ‘bad’. However, several of these diets are, at the very least, conflicting with each other, eg; Paleo & Vegan.

It is very easy to find ‘bad’ press regarding any diet. At the end of the day, each of us is different and has different constitutions. Maybe the best way to determine which diet is best for us is to listen to our bodies and take note of how we feel after eating different food groups and go from there.

We have decided some time ago, that the best basis for our diet was to restrict our intake of processed foods. We try to consume mostly whole foods and foods that have had very little processing.

We also choose to restrict our intake of wheat and sugar, as we both find we feel better without it.

Till the next post,

Live clean n Prosper

Source – Healthline – National Library of Medicine –