by Jeanne Yacoubou
\nVRG Research Director<\/p>\n
Tryptophan is an essential amino acid, meaning that humans must consume it in their diet. As an amino acid, it is a component of protein. Tryptophan is also a precursor for the neurotransmitter, serotonin, and the hormone, melatonin. This amino acid is readily obtained by common high-protein food sources such as soybeans, certain seeds, eggs, milk, and meat.<\/p>\n
Tryptophan is believed by some to help as a sleep aid and is often sold as a dietary supplement for this purpose. There is also a form of tryptophan sold as Tryptan™, a prescription drug intended to aid the uptake of certain psychiatric drugs.<\/p>\n
In 1989, tryptophan was banned for sale in most countries due to several reported incidents of death and serious health effects. Known as Eosinophilia-Myalgia Syndrome, EMS was linked to a contaminated batch of tryptophan. Currently, pharmaceutical grade tryptophan is believed to be safe.<\/p>\n
Although most sources report that tryptophan is industrially produced by bacterial fermentation, a major food ingredient supplier in the United States told The VRG in March 2011 that its source of tryptophan is duck feathers or human hair.<\/p>\n
Ajinomoto AminoScience is one company that produces a pharmaceutical grade tryptophan, known by the trade name TryptoPure™, through microbial fermentation using only non-animal materials. Several dietary supplement companies contacted by The VRG reported in March 2011 that their tryptophan is produced through microbial fermentation and many carry this brand.<\/p>\n
To purchase our Vegetarian Journal\u2019s Guide to Food Ingredients, go to: To support VRG\u2019s research, please donate at: The contents of this website and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.<\/small><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Jeanne Yacoubou VRG Research Director Tryptophan is an essential amino acid, meaning that humans must consume it in their diet. As an amino acid, it is a component of protein. Tryptophan is also a precursor for the neurotransmitter, serotonin, and the hormone, melatonin. This amino acid is readily obtained by common high-protein food sources […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1661"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1664,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1661\/revisions\/1664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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