Posted by JLx on July 14, 2006, at 11:01:09
In reply to Re: Tryptophan not banned since 1994, posted by dessbee on July 14, 2006, at 9:38:10
> What is the reason for your insomnia?
> Are you depressed?
> Do suffer from anxiety?Did you mean to address these questions to someone else?
> From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
>
> In 1989, a large outbreak of a new, disabling, and in some cases deadly autoimmune illness called eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome (EMS) was traced to L-tryptophan. The bacterial culture used to synthesize tryptophan by a major Japanese manufacturer, Showa Denko KK, had recently been genetically engineered to increase tryptophan production; with the higher tryptophan concentration in the culture medium, the purification process had also been streamlined to reduce costs, and a purification step that used charcoal absorption to remove impurities had been omitted. This allowed another bacterial metabolite through the purification, resulting in the presence of an end-product contaminant responsible for the toxic effects. The FDA was unable to establish with certainty that this was the sole cause of the outbreak. Tryptophan was banned from sale in the US, and other countries followed suit.
>
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TryptophanWikipedia, as you probably know is freely posted to and in this case, someone is not up to date.
As the FDA link contained within the discussion post I gave says,
Current policy on the marketing of dietary supplements containing L-tryptophan and related compounds
"Although FDA continues to enunciate its concern about the safety of dietary supplements containing L-tryptophan and related compounds such as L-5-hydroxytryptophan, this does not mean that FDA prohibits the marketing of dietary supplements that contain L-tryptophan. Under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (the Act), as amended by the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), the manufacturer is responsible for ensuring that its products are safe." http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/ds-tryp1.html
Tryptophan is widely available now.
JL
poster:JLx
thread:665492
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20060704/msgs/667020.html