From: rabani@jeeves.ucsd.edu (Ely Rabani)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Depression: Nutritional treatments
Date: 12 Sep 92 07:40:12 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego

In article <PHR.92Sep11152003@soda.berkeley.edu> phr@soda.berkeley.edu (Paul Rubin) writes:
>
>My friend had depressive episodes lasting a few days each, and found
>phenylalanine helped them.  I know someone else who has been depressed
>for years who tried it with no noticable effect.  I suspect the
>underlying causes of short and long depressions (when physical)
>are different but don't know much about the subject.
>
>I've taken phenylalanine tablets a few times and noticed a change
>in my mental state within 1-2 hours (made me feel more energetic
>but somewhat "wired").  Might be a placebo effect, I don't know.
>
>   IT would be EASY to conduct a trial of phenylalanine or tyrosine
>   versus placebo in depression.  If somebody did it, and it worked,
>   we'd all be taking and prescribing phenylalanine rather than
>   imipramine and prozac.

I think we should remember that amino acids, while hype-able, are not
patentable.  Such research gets the funding crumbs when it isn't
rejected for guilt by association with snake-oil.

>
>I believe such trials have been done.  "Life Extension" gives
>references, if I remember correctly.  "We'd all be taking and

---

In my own case, 500mg/day thiamine has, I strongly feel, made a
difference.  While there are other variables, since I included this
with my daily supplementation--for entirely different reasons, to
keep the mosquitoes, which find me delectable, away on an upcoming
hiking trip (it was absolutely ineffective in this application ;->)--
depression hasn't "worked".  That is to say, despite all kinds of real
bummers in my life since, including some heavy duty stress, I haven't
fallen into depression of any consequence since. 

Thiamine is water soluble, and I've encountered no problems in over two
years on this regimen (Though my skin does have a mild sulphuric
smell--a small price).  At first, within a month after starting, I found
that I sobered up very quickly, it happens that thiamine is a cofactor
for ethanol dehydrogenase, but since then  (I've only had occasion to test
this once or twice since) this effect has diminished, no doubt due to
downregulation of that enzyme....One thing a cursory review of recent
(databased) literature on thiamine revealed was that it is given
intravenously in large doses to auto accident victims admitted to ERs
unconscious or with other indications of alcohol intoxication.  A good
idea, but if considering regular megadose intake of thiame, you do write
this bennefit off...so drunk driving is that much less advisable....

There is some murky reputation of such a connection but I have found no
refs. addressing this speciffic connection.  At the time I was looking
into this, there was something about Wistar rats (thiamine deficient)
showing increasued muricidal behavior on thiamine restricted diets,
relieved by either (I don't recall which at the momment--if I find it,
I'll follow this up) dopa agonists or antagonists.  Note that European
(v. American) thought on depression focuses on dopa rather than
serotonin.  

In any case, as with most vitamin supplementation, the cost to bennefit
is low even with minimal efficacy if there is not individual
contraindication. 


Ely.

views are my own, though a healthy dose of orthomolecularism wouldn't
hurt anyone.
 
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