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22.01.2023

Supplementation with 5HTP makes diabetics eat significantly less

Supplementation with a hefty dose of 5HTP causes diabetics to spontaneously reduce their daily energy intake by 420 kilocalories. This is shown by an Italian study from the previous century. Whether 5HTP has the same effect in non-diabetics? That's just the question.

Study
In 1998, researchers at the Sapienza University of Rome published a small human study in the International Journal of Obesity in which they experimented with 20 type-2 diabetics who were not yet using insulin.

9 subjects took 750 milligrams of 5HTP daily for 2 weeks, 11 a placebo. The subjects were allowed to eat as much as they wanted, but kept track of exactly what they drank and ate.

Results
Supplementation with 5HTP reduced energy intake from 8088 to 6338 kiloJoules per day after a week. After two weeks of supplementation, the intake even dropped a little further. This decrease in energy intake amounts to 420 kilocalories.

Roughly three-quarters of the decrease in energy intake was due to a decrease in fat intake. The remaining 25 were due to a decrease in carbohydrate consumption. Indeed, it almost sounds too good to be true...

Mechanism
Diabetes reduces the body's ability to convert BCAAs into energy. As a result, the concentration of BCAAs in the bloodstream increases.

Because BCAAs and tryptophan can enter the brain via the same transporters, and compete with each other to cross the blood-brain barrier, the supply of tryptophan to the brain is reduced in diabetes. As a result, the production of serotonin in the brain decreases.

Serotonin is an appetite suppressant. The researchers think this is why diabetes leads to hyperphagia - an increased appetite. They think that in their experiment they have removed that hyperphagia by supplementing with 5HTP. 5HTP is a metabolite that arises from tryptophan, which can then be converted into serotonin.

If that is correct, 5HTP may therefore be an interesting weight loss supplement for diabetics. The Italians do not know whether this also applies to other groups.

Source:
Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 1998 Jul;22(7):648-54.

More:
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5HTP, a supplement that mends a broken heart 09.03.2013

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