Tryptophan. It’s an amino acid used to make serotonin-(for brain, hormones and good mood), melatonin-a neurotransmitter for sleep and kynurenic acid-a brain protector.
When inflammation or cortisol are high, the tryptophan pathway will divert to making quinolinic acid, instead of kynurenic acid (brain protector) and serotonin and melatonin will, also, go down. This brings on inflammation and is damaging to the brain. So, you see, inflammation has been shown to be a piece in developing depression. It can be at the root of poor moods due to low serotonin, not sleeping well and making quinolinic acid. (inflammatory)
There are nutrients that are a must for converting tryptophan into serotonin and kynurenic acid.
Making sure you are getting enough of these and keeping inflammation and cortisol down, will help stave off depression.
We are glad to guide you to make sure you have the right nutrients for the proper conversion along with nutrition to help with cortisol levels, inflammation and balanced blood sugar.
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