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>There are a couple of myths told each year at my house >on Thanksgiving. One is that Uncle Lou will finally >get the hint by Friday afternoon that he's overstayed >his welcome and will leave without swiping most of the >leftovers. The other is that there's a natural >chemical in turkey called tryptophan that makes you >sleepy after the Thanksgiving meal. > >While the first myth stems from wishful thinking, the >sleepy-turkey myth lingers around each year because it >sounds so logical. > >Alas, it is only marginally true. What's making you >sleepy after Thanksgiving dinner is any combination of >booze, bad conversation and a carbohydrate-heavy meal, >but not the turkey itself. > >The tryptophan trip > >Tryptophan is an essential amino acid crucial for good >health. Human bodies need tryptophan to build certain >kinds of proteins. There is a sleep connection, >though. The body uses tryptophan in a multi-step >process to make serotonin, a neurotransmitter in the >brain that helps regulate sleep. > >Turkey does have tryptophan. But all meat has >tryptophan at comparable levels. Cheddar cheese, gram >for gram, has more. While cheddar isn't the most >exciting cheese in the cheese cellar, no one connects >it with sleep. Turkey gets singled out for no other >reason than being eaten during the biggest meal of the >year. > >In essence, big meals with any food containing >tryptophan can cause sleepiness. The real culprits are >all those carbohydrates from potatoes, stuffing, >vegetables, bread and pie. The massive intake of >carb-heavy calories stimulates the release of insulin, >which in turn triggers the uptake of most amino acids >from the blood into the muscles except for tryptophan. > >With other amino acids swept out of the bloodstream, >tryptophan—from turkey or ham or any meat or cheese, >for that matter—can better make its way to the brain >to produce serotonin. Without that insulin surge, >tryptophan would have to compete with all the other >kinds of amino acids in the big meal as they make >their way to the brain via a common chemical transport >route. And not enough tryptophan would make it to the >brain because other basic amino acids are far more >plentiful in food.

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