[birdinflight]

Does anyone have any experience with neurotransmitter balancing? You submit a saliva or urine sample, and based on levels of your neurotransmitters in the sample, you take amino acid supplements which are supposed to balance the neurotransmitter levels.

I'm curious to hear comments, i.e. results, side effects.

[Larry_Hoover]

I'm sorry to say that there is no scientific basis for this sort of testing. There is no useful information to be obtained in saliva, urine (or blood, for that matter), with respect to neurotransmitter status. If there was, surely your regular doctor would start there.

I'll give you an example. In urine, the tryptophan/serotonin metabolite indoleacetic acid is often used as a marker for what they are calling the "serotonin level" in the body. The fact is, there are a number of different pathways from tryptophan to indoleacetic acid, some of which bypass serotonin altogether. Moreover, less than 10% of the body's total serotonin content is in the brain. There is no way to know whether indoleacetic acid in the urine arose in the brain, or from serotonin breakdown. Studies which sought to correlate urinary indoleacetic acid content with cerebro-spinal fluid (the plasma-like substance that washes the brain and spinal canal) found no correlation whatsoever. Moreover, mood status was not correlated with either measure.

In the end, this sort of testing is useful only in transferring your money to the bank accounts of the laboratory and/or the practitioner ordering the tests.

Far better to consider your own symptoms, and do trials of nutrients which might enhance your own body's ability to generate neurotransmitters. In the end, that's all the tests would accomplish. You'd still end up at the same decision point. You don't need tests to know what your symptoms are.

Lar

[birdinflight]

Thanks for your reply. I didn't know, but only suspected, it might be as you said. I'm glad I didn't do it. Since the supplements they sell are various amino acids, I thought it might help to increase protein in my diet.

[Larry_Hoover]

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birdinflight said:
Since the supplements they sell are various amino acids, I thought it might help to increase protein in my diet.

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Unless your diet is grossly deficient in particular amino acids (the essential aminos), which usually arises when a vegetarian does not properly combine families of plant sources, then simply increasing your protein intake is unlikely to produce results similar to amino acid supplementation.

When one uses an amino supplement, there is a fairly brief but substantial spike in blood concentration of that amino. During that blood spike, tissues can absorb the amino preferentially. That changes the output of various enzymatic processes. For example, a tryptophan supp will enhance formation of serotonin. Tryptophan must be pumped across the blood/brain barrier, and it must compete for that transporter site. Tryptophan supps are best taken on an empty stomach, about 30-45 minutes prior to consuming something that will cause a spike in insulin secretion, i.e. something sweet. The insulin drives tryptophan's competitor amino acids into muscle tissue, leaving tryptophan with near exclusive access to the brain transporter. You can't accomplish this with food, no matter how you try to do it.

Tyrosine is a precursor to dopamine. Phenylalanine is one step back from tryptophan, but it has the alternative pathway towards PEA (phenylalanine, another 'feel good' molecule) that tyrosine lacks. Man-made phenylalanine (called DLPA) further enhances PEA formation.

Both tyrosine and phenylalanine can also enhance norepinephrine production.

Notwithstanding what I said about food being unable to accomplish the effects seen with pure amino supplements, hydrolyzed protein powders (usually from whey or soya), do demonstrate some benefits. It's possible that many people have unrecognized malabsorption issues (caused by poor digestion), and the pre-digested protein in the hydrolyzed proteins enhances absorption. That's just a theory, though.

You'll only know if these might work for you, by doing the experiments. You can't think your way to the answer.

Lar