deckmunki
Bluelighter
I've been doing a bit of armchair chemistry research, so this could be way off the mark, but from my limited reading, it looks like excessive intake of the serotonin precursor 5-HTP or the dopamine precursor L-Tyrosine could cause a concomitant drop in the other neurotransmitter.
If I've understood this correctly, it's because both neurotransmitters rely on a single enzyme - TPH - and it's therefore only possible to synthesise a certain amount in any given period of time - a "rate limiting step", so if you significantly increase the levels of one precursor without increasing the other to match, your body will produce more of one than the other, and over time you could start seeing negative effects on mood, appetite, sleep, anxiety levels, etc.
Here's (some of) where this latest crazy theory of mine comes from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin#Biosynthesis
http://www.neuroassist.com/neurotransmitter-depletion-5-HTP-Depletes-Dopamine.htm
http://www.sjwinfo.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2532
http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v31/n2/full/1300835a.html
http://www.sjwinfo.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2854
?
If I've understood this correctly, it's because both neurotransmitters rely on a single enzyme - TPH - and it's therefore only possible to synthesise a certain amount in any given period of time - a "rate limiting step", so if you significantly increase the levels of one precursor without increasing the other to match, your body will produce more of one than the other, and over time you could start seeing negative effects on mood, appetite, sleep, anxiety levels, etc.
Here's (some of) where this latest crazy theory of mine comes from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin#Biosynthesis
http://www.neuroassist.com/neurotransmitter-depletion-5-HTP-Depletes-Dopamine.htm
http://www.sjwinfo.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2532
http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v31/n2/full/1300835a.html
http://www.sjwinfo.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2854
?
