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Can we make serotonin in other ways?
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But hypothetically - would tryptophan or 5htp even work if someone had 0 folate available to methylate with?If your body isn't messed up, you would eat food, digest it, methylate and make neurotransmitters. You can try repairing the various links in the chain if broken.
Otherwise, you can take precursors to serotonin - tryptophan, 5htp or inositol.
Or an SSRI, which doubles the amount of serotonin already present by blocking its reuptake.
would tryptophan or 5htp even work if someone had 0 folate available to methylate with?
The info I'm finding is that methylation is required for serotonin to be synthesized,
I got that idea from this http://www.blueprintfitness.co.uk/serotonin-101-why-5-htp-does-not-work-for-you/What do you mean? Methylation reactions are not involved in synthesis of serotonin from tryptophan.
Blogs aren't a good source. Can you cite to a scientific source?I got that idea from this http://www.blueprintfitness.co.uk/serotonin-101-why-5-htp-does-not-work-for-you/
I got that idea from this http://www.blueprintfitness.co.uk/serotonin-101-why-5-htp-does-not-work-for-you/
I believe youWell that just goes to show you can't believe everything that circulates on the internet. That blogger doesn't understand basic biochemical pathways.
5-HTP is converted to serotonin by a decarboxylation reaction, not a methylation. You just need to look at the chemical structures of 5-HTP and serotonin shown in the links I gave. The difference is that serotonin has had a carboxyl (COOH) group removed, it has not had a methyl group (CH3) added.
You don't have to take my word for it - just google serotonin synthesis and you'll find any number of entries from various reputable sources.
trying to understand what nutrition I would need in place to make sure 5htp converts to serotonin
vit B6 in its active form is the cofactor for the decarboxylase enzyme..
Then you need the things necessary to ensure B6 is converted to its active form. So B2 is necessary to convert pyridoxine (the form in supplements and vegetables) to pyridoxal, then you need the means to produce ATP to phosphorylate it (the active form is pyridoxal 5 phosphate), then you need magnesium to work with the ATP.
Then you need the things necessary to ensure that B2 is converted to its active form, viz good thyroid function, the means to make ATP, some say molybdenum though I'm not so sure about that.
In other words a network of nutritional factors.
Came across another source that claims folate is required for BH4 and serotonin production
but I still like her diagram:
I've been away for a while, so I missed this. Sorry.There are some serious errors in that diagram and it doesn't show the role of the various B vitamins.
Can you point us to a more accurate diagram that is simple enough for people to understand? I really would like something like this.