It turns out you can’t blame turkey for your midday nap.
Instead, food and sleep experts say holiday drowsiness likely comes from feasting and energy exertion.
“Folklore has it that the tryptophan-rich turkey is the reason behind the prevalence of snoozers sprawled out in your living room after the leftovers are tucked away,” said Dr. Joan Salge Blake – a nutrition professor at Boston University.
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“Tryptophan is one of 20 amino acids found in foods and can be converted in your brain to the neurotransmitters, serotonin and melatonin,” Blake continued.
Blake said that since both compounds play important roles in regulating sleep, it would make sense that tryptophan has historically been to blame as a “sleep-inducing culprit.”
“But if you look a little further into the science (or lack of) behind this folklore, you will soon realize that this tryptophan theory just doesn’t make any physiological sense,” Blake added.
It turns out you can’t blame Turkey for your Thanksgiving or Christmas nap. Instead, food and sleep experts say holiday drowsiness likely comes from feasting and energy exertion.
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Turkey isn’t the only meat that contains tryptophan. According to Blake, a roasted chicken breast usually contains more tryptophan than turkey on average.
Nutrition data published by the USDA’s FoodData Central database reports that a 100-gram serving of cooked chicken contains 362 milligrams of tryptophan while a 100-gram serving of cooked turkey contains 252 milligrams of tryptophan.
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The daily tryptophan allowance for an average adult can range between 250 and 425 milligrams, according to Joe Cohen – the CEO of SelfDecode, an artificial intelligence-powered health report app.
“Many people regularly get twice the recommended tryptophan amount without even trying through beef, poultry, fish, eggs, soy, yogurt, cheese, milk, and…
Source : foxnews
