1 reply to this topic

[j87]

I came across this chart. Would it seem that l-dopa is safest to supplement with, since phenylalanine and tyrosine convert to tyramine and other biproducts we don't want?

 

[β-Endorphin]

Actually, L-Phenylalanine/L-tyrosine would be the safest to supplement with. The reason being that these two chemicals have a rate-limiting conversion step when they are converted to dopamine; A step that allows the brain to limit how much it wants to convert to dopamine and how much it wants to convert to other things or leave unconverted. As you probably know, dopamine is a very powerful chemical that must be balanced correctly, too much or too little dopamine can cause disastrous effects.

 

With L-dopa, there is no rate-limiting step. Close to 100% of the L-dopa is converted uncontrollably to dopamine and the brain has no say in it. This produces disastrous results, for example, common side effects of L-dopa include psychosis(hearing voices, seeing things that are not there etc.), disorientation and confusions, extreme mood swings and emotional states(that looks a lot like bipolar), euphoria/dysphoria, Tremors and uncontrollable muscle movements, and many many others.

 

While L-phenylalanine/L-tyrosine has no side effects, except maybe some indigestion and nausea. 

 

Additionally, tyramine and other byproducts are necessary for normal brain function. If we had no tyramine or any other of these "bi-products" in our brain, we would not be alive. So they are still important, we shouldn't be trying to eliminate them.