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Article: As a pain killer, tryptophan has been a sleeper
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- July 10, 1988
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright (null) Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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"Tryptophan is the first safe, nontoxic sleeping pill," asserts
a University of Oklahoma professor in Nutrition News, a newsletter
distributed in natural-foods stores.
The same newsletter quotes a psychiatrist who used tryptophan to
combat the pain of repeated spinal surgery. "It relieved my pain and
stress so well that I was able to function with complete efficiency,"
he said.
A Denver psychiatrist, says the newsletter, has used it on some
50 patients "to fight the blues or beat depression." His patients
"all report happier lives."
These testimonials are anything but scientific, but they do have
some basis in fact. Tryptophan has been shown to promote sleep.
Whether the amino acid ...