What is SERENITY TM and what is 5-HTP?

SERENITY TM is our newest custom supplement containing 5- Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) which is an amino acid that is the intermediate step between tryptophan and the important brain chemical serotonin. There is a massive amount of evidence that suggests that low serotonin levels are a common consequence of modern living. The lifestyle and dietary practices of many people living in this stress-filled era results in lowered levels of serotonin within the brain.

As a result, many people are overweight, crave sugar and other carbohydrates, experience bouts of depression, get frequent headaches, and have vague muscle aches and pain. All of these maladies are correctable by raising brain serotonin levels. The primary therapeutic applications for 5-HTP are low serotonin states

Conditions associated with low serotonin levels helped by 5-HTP: Depression
Obesity
Carbohydrate craving

Bulimia
Insomnia
Narcolepsy
Sleep apnea
Migraine headaches Tension headaches Chronic daily headaches Premenstrual syndrome Fibromyalgia

Although 5-HTP may be relatively new to the United States health food industry, it has been available through pharmacies for several years and has been intensely researched for the past three decades. It has been available in several European countries as a medicine since the 1970s.

What advantages does 5-HTP have over L-tryptophan?

There are many advantages of 5-HTP over L-tryptophan. First of all, because it is one step closer to serotonin, 5-HTP is more effective than L-tryptophan. 5-HTP is also inherently safer. Although L-tryptophan is safe if properly prepared and free of the contaminants linked to severe allergic reaction known as eosinophilia myalgia syndrome (EMS), L-tryptophan is still produced with the help of bacterial fermentation (a situation that lends itself to contamination). In contrast, 5-HTP is isolated from a natural source – a seed from an African plant (Griffonia simplicifolia).

Evidence that this natural source of 5-HTP does not cause EMS is provided by researchers who have been using 5-HTP for over 25 years. They state that “EMS has never appeared in the patients of ours who received only uncontaminated Ltryptophan or 5-hydroxtryptophan (5-HTP)”.

Furthermore, researchers at the NIH studying the effects 5-HTP for various metabolic conditions have also not observed a single case of EMS nor has a case of elevated eosinophils been attributed to 5-HTP in these studies.

How does 5-HTP compare with melatonin in the treatment of insomnia?

5-HTP may prove to be better than melatonin. Several clinical studies have shown 5-HTP to produce good results in promoting and maintaining sleep in normal subjects as well as those experiencing insomnia . One of the key benefits with 5-HTP in the treatment of insomnia is its ability to increase sleep quality.

Can 5-HTP be taken with St. John’s wort extract?

Yes. In fact, the two seem to work very well together. St. John’s wort extract has been shown in over 25 double-blind studies to be as or more effective than antidepressant drugs in the treatment of mild to moderate depression. In more severe cases, I recommend using 5-HTP along with St. John’s wort. Be sure to use the St. John’s wort extract standardized for 0.3% hypericin. The dosage for this extract is typically 300 mg three times per day. When using it in combination with 5- HTP I recommend 50-100 mg of 5-HTP and 150-300 mg of St. John’s wort extract three times daily.

Has 5-HTP been studied in the treatment of depression?

Yes. In fact, there is excellent documentation that 5-HTP is an effective antidepressant agent. 5-HTP often produces very good results in patients who are unresponsive to standard antidepressant drugs. One of the more impressive studies involved 99 patients described as suffering from “therapy resistant” depression .

These patients had not responded to any previous therapy including all available antidepressant drugs as well as electro convulsive therapy. These therapy resistant patients received 5-HTP at dosages averaging 200 mg daily but ranging from 50 to 600 mg per day. Complete recovery was seen in 43 of the 99 patients and significant improvement was noted in 8 more. Such significant improvement in patients suffering from long-standing, unresponsive depression is quite impressive prompting the author of another study to state “5-HTP merits a place in the front of the ranks of the antidepressants instead of being used as a last resort. I have never in 20 years used an agent which: 1) was effective so quickly; 2) restored the patients so completely to the persons they had been and their partners had known; [and] 3) was so entirely without side effects” .

Are there any studies where 5-HTP was compared directly to antidepressant drugs?

Yes, there are several. 5-HTP is equal to or better than standard antidepressant drugs and the side effects are much less severe. The study with the most significance was one that compared to fluvoxamine, a “selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor” like Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft. In the study, subjects received either 5-HTP (100 mg) or fluvoxamine (50 mg) three times daily for 6 weeks. The percentage decrease in overall depression scores was slightly better in the 5-HTP group (60.7% vs. 56.1%). More patients responded to 5-HTP than fluvoxamine and 5-HTP was quicker acting than the fluvoxamine. The real advantage of 5-HTP in this study was the low rate of side effects.

How does 5-HTP benefit headache sufferers?

Because chronic headache sufferers have low levels of serotonin in their tissues, some researchers refer to migraine and chronic headaches as a “low serotonin syndrome” (15). There have been several clinical studies with 5-HTP in headaches, both migraine and tension headaches, that have showed excellent results (15-20). In particular, the use of 5-HTP in the prevention of migraine headache offers considerable advantages over drug therapy. Although a number of drugs have been shown to be useful in the prevention of migraine headaches, all of them carry significant side effects. In contrast, 5-HTP is very safe.

What is the best way to take 5-HTP?

For depression, weight loss, headaches, and fibromyalgia the dosage should be started at 100mg two times per day. If the response is inadequate after two
weeks, increase the dosage to 100 mg three times per day. This recommendation will greatly reduce the mild symptoms of nausea often experienced during the first few weeks of 5-HTP therapy. Using enteric-coated capsules (such as our SERENITY TM prepared in a manner so that they will not dissolve in the stomach) significantly reduces the likelihood of nausea. Because 5-HTP does not rely on the same transport vehicle as L-tryptophan, it can also be taken with food. But, if you are taking 5-HTP for weight loss I recommend taking it 20 minutes before meals.

For insomnia, I recommend 100 to 300 mg thirty to forty-five minutes before retiring. Start with the lower dose for at least three days before increasing dosage.

For insomnia, I recommend 100 to 300 mg thirty to forty-five minutes before retiring. Start with the lower dose for at least three days before increasing dosage.