mitragyna
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2006
- Messages
- 242
I've been using L-Theanine for a while now with great benefits. When I'm shopping for it, I would always see the "Suntheanine" brand and it's much more expensive than the other L-Theanine products. This made me wonder if it's more expensive just because of the name brand or if there is an actual difference in the makeup of the L-Theanine. Well, I guess it's both.
According to some consumer reviews, regular L-Theanine can lead to side effects such as headaches. While Suntheanine does not. Also I looked this up on the net and came across this article:
Does anyone here have any info on this? Or any studies?
This would be a great help. Thanks!
According to some consumer reviews, regular L-Theanine can lead to side effects such as headaches. While Suntheanine does not. Also I looked this up on the net and came across this article:
Then there is this article:Study Reveals Difference Between Suntheanine® and Other Brands
Dr. Daniel Armstrong, a Caldwell Professor of Chemistry at Iowa State University, and his analysis team reviewed a number of commercially available brands that claimed to contain pure L-theanine. Results revealed that a number of brands contained ingredients other than L-theanine.
"We found all of those tested that are made through chemical synthesis or claiming to be extracted from green tea actually have about 50 per cent present as D-theanine," explains Dr. Armstrong, adding that "the only material that proved to be pure L-theanine was the Suntheanine® brand, produced via biofermentation, which had more than 99.95 per cent L-theanine, our current detection limit".
Suntheanine® is the patented form of L-theanine and the trademark of Taiyo International, the company that originally isolated the amino acid into an effective supplement for consumers.
Well, according to these articles Suntheanine is better. But I would like to see more studies on this. I'd also like to know which products contain 100% L-Theanine and which ones are a racemic mixture.L-theanine Must be Pure for Proper Absorption, Study Finds
A new study finds that L-theanine must be administered in its pure form rather than as the mixture of D-theanine and L-theanine found in many nutritional supplements in order to be absorbed by the body.
Researchers from Iowa State University orally administered to rats pure L-theanine, pure D-theanine, and an ingredient commercially marketed as ?L-theanine? that actually was a racemic mixture (a 50:50 split between D- and L-theanine). They then measured blood concentrations, urinary excretion, and a marker of theanine metabolism in the blood.
The results show that the animals? bodies had a preference for pure L-theanine and that the pure form is better absorbed in the gut. The concentration of L-theanine seen in the blood was greater with the pure L-theanine than it was with the racemic mixture. There was also a trend toward greater urinary excretion of L-theanine when consumed as the racemic form.
The majority of clinical and animal studies determining the bioavailability of L-theanine have used Suntheanine, a form of pure L-theanine.
Simple HPLC analysis cannot discriminate between D- and L-theanine yet a number of companies are relying upon this method to assert that they have the pure L-isomer, declared Scott Smith, Vice President of Taiyo Kagaku, the manufacturer of Suntheanine in Minneapolis. The patented enzymatic synthesis method locks in the L-isomer and thus gives us pure L-theanine every batch. Suntheanine is an elegant example of where chemistry dictates biology.?
Reference:
Desai MJ, Gill MS, Hsu WH, Armstrong DW. Pharmacokinetics of theanine enantiomers in rats. Chirality. 2005 Mar;17(3):154-62
Does anyone here have any info on this? Or any studies?
This would be a great help. Thanks!