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The Best Way to Boost Serotonin

The secret to naturally boosting serotonin levels in the brain may include eating foods such as pumpkin seeds with a high tryptophan to total protein ratio. This may help explain why studies show that those eating plant-based diets have superior mood states.

August 6, 2012 |
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The Best Way to Boost Serotonin, 5.0 out of 5 based on 3 ratings

Sources Cited

Schweiger U, Laessle R, Kittl S, Dickhaut B, Schweiger M, Pirke KM. Macronutrient intake, plasma large neutral amino acids and mood during weight-reducing diets. J Neural Transm. 1986;67(1-2):77-86.

Fernstrom JD, Wurtman RJ. Brain serotonin content: physiological regulation by plasma neutral amino acids. Science. 1972 Oct 27;178(4059):414-6.

Hudson C, Hudson S, MacKenzie J. Protein-source tryptophan as an efficacious treatment for social anxiety disorder: a pilot study. Can J Physiol Pharmacol. 2007 Sep;85(9):928-32.

Wurtman RJ, Wurtman JJ, Regan MM, McDermott JM, Tsay RH, Breu JJ. Effects of normal meals rich in carbohydrates or proteins on plasma tryptophan and tyrosine ratios. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003 Jan;77(1):128-32.

Acknowledgements

Transcript

We can choose carbohydrate rich plant foods over animal foods to boost tryptophan levels, but ideally, it would be more than just carbs. Since “”the main determinant of brain serotonin concentrations appears to be the ratio of tryptophan with others that compete with it for uptake into the brain, to maximize the mood elevating benefits of diet, one would ideally choose a snack with a high tryptophan to total protein ratio, which would mean primarily seeds, such as sesame, sunflower, and pumpkin.

Protein-source tryptophan as an efficacious treatment for social anxiety disorder: a pilot study. So what protein source did they use? Butternut squash seeds, because of their high tryptophan to protein ratio, as part of a randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study of people suffering from social phobia, also known as social anxiety disorder. And they found significant improvement in multiple objective measures of anxiety in those eating the squash seed bars.

“Before studies like this one, a change in the composition of intact dietary protein was not seen as a possible option for the treatment of common psychological disorders associated with low serotonin levels.” but that’s because they were using animal proteins—which can makes things worse, not plants.

If this is true, then those eating vegetarian should be golden, and indeed this was the reasoning used to explain why “Global mood, was significantly better in a "vegetarian" than in the "mixed" diet group.” It’s all about carbohydrates, and a huge tryptophan to protein ration. “The "vegetarian" group was instructed to avoid meat, fish and poultry and to restrict intake of milk, milk products and eggs to a minimum” and within three weeks the vegetarian diet groups had a significantly improved global mood.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Kerry Skinner.

To help out on the site please email volunteer@nutritionfacts.org

Dr. Michael Greger

Doctor's Note

This is the final video of a four-part series (mentioned in Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death) on natural ways to boost serotonin in the brain. Wednesday's video-of-the-day Human Neurotransmitters in Plants noted that plants themselves can contain serotonin. Thursday's The Wrong Way to Boost Serotonin was a cautionary tale about tryptophan supplements and Friday's A Better Way to Boost Serotonin covered the role carbs can play in boosting tryptophan transport into the brain. The findings of better mood scores in those eating vegetarian is consistent with both cross-sectional and interventionalfindings I've reported previously. The reason I report more data on nuts than seeds is a function of the greater access of researchers to funding on nuts (thanks to producer groups). From what little data we have, though, I have a feeling it's like the soy versus other beans story. If I had to guess, I'd bet in general seeds may be even healthier than nuts, and since I encourage daily nut consumption, I'd add seeds to that recommendation as well. If only researchers had more seed money! :)

For more context, check out my associated blog posts: How To Boost Serotonin Naturally, Top 10 Most Popular Videos of the Year, and  Saffron vs. Prozac for Depression

  • Michael Greger M.D.

    This is the final video of a four-part series (mentioned in Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death) on natural ways to boost serotonin in the brain. Wednesday’s video-of-the-day Human Neurotransmitters in Plants noted that plants themselves can contain serotonin. Thursday’s The Wrong Way to Boost Serotonin was a cautionary tale about tryptophan supplements and Friday’s A Better Way to Boost Serotonin covered the role carbs can play in boosting tryptophan transport into the brain. The findings of better mood scores in those eating vegetarian is consistent with both cross-sectional and interventional findings I’ve reported previously. The reason I report more data on nuts than seeds is a function of the greater access of researchers to funding on nuts (thanks to producer groups). From what little data we have, though, I have a feeling it’s like the soy versus other beans story. If I had to guess, I’d bet in general seeds may be even healthier than nuts, and since I encourage daily nut consumption, I’d add seeds to that recommendation as well. If only researchers had more seed money! :)

    • http://poxacuatl.wordpress.com/ Strix

       This is just on of the reasons why I wonder — struggle with — why the No-fat doctors continue to insist that fat is bad. It really boggles my mind. In my opinion, at best, they are derelict in recommending no fat. I also find it morally incomprehensible, especially since I suffered from following that recommendation for years. I just hope I don’t pay any more than I already have in the future!
      Thanks for posting about the benefits of good fats in our diets.

      • April Lillie

        I’m just curious. What side effects did you have from the low fat diet? I personally like Dr. Mcdougall but I haven’t eliminated the fat as he recommends. I still use small amounts of oil in some of my cooking, enjoy dark chocolate and use nuts and seeds in cooking.

        • http://poxacuatl.wordpress.com/ Strix

           I think the fact that you haven’t eliminated all fats and eat nuts and seeds says it all! :^)

          • April Lillie

            Yeah but you still haven’t answered mt question. I’m assuming you tried going without added oils and nuts. My reason is taste, really, not side effects. So I’m curious what people experience without the fat.

          • Paulc

            You’re likely to loose weight faster. Fat has 225% more calories than either carbs or protein.

          • LMachamer

            I was on the McDougall diet strictly for about 8 years.  What I experienced after that time of NO nuts or seeds and NO oils was a problem with my joints, especially my knees and shoulders.  However, I was also NOT eating many raw foods other than fruit.  I believe if I had been eating daily green salads, I may not have experienced the problems I did.  My shoulder pain was diagnosed as bursitis and my knee pain arthritis.  After doing some research, I decided since both conditions could be helped by adding enzymes to my diet, I decided to eat primarily raw foods, including raw fruit and vegetable juices.  In a period of about 2 months my shoulder pain was completely gone.  The knees took about 6 months.  I have continued this way of eating now 14 years and at the age of 62 have no aches or pains at all.

          • GeoffreyLevens

            Ok, I’ll bite.  Everyone is different and many seem to do very well on the “very low fat” diets.  I however had dramatically increased dandruff, super dry skin, chronic itching all over, strange skin rashes that would not heal, much increased joint pain, and steadily worsening sinus allergies.  After adding about 1 oz raw seeds/nuts plus 200 mg of DHA daily (total fat intake around 20%) all those symptoms reversed and gradually resolved.  Now, after 2 1/2 years on the higher but still low fat diet, I am healthier all around than ever.

            Taste adapts and is very “trainable”.  I love the food eating McDougall style and I love it eating Fuhrman style.

          • Geoffrey Levens

            Forgot to mention I was 100% McDougall’s “strictest” version but I did eat a ton of greens and other veg. Nearly as much as I do w/ Fuhrman’s approach, just no seeds/nuts and grains and potatoes and sweet potatoes instead of beans

          • Elvin

            Supposing you just directly answer A.L’s question: ‘
            What side effects did you have from the low fat diet ?’

          • poconomel

            The problem isn’t fats… it is Omega-6 fats. These are inflammatory and contribute to many diseases. Omega-6 is in most foods, veggies included. So stop using ADDED omega-6 fats and increase Omega-3 fats which reduce inflammation. There are both animal and vegetarian sources for Omega-3. They are not used for cooking or flavoring.

      • Paulc

         They don’t recommend no fat- but low fat. I think their reasons are fairly well explained in this blog which comments on Dr. Fuhrman’s interview with Dr. Greger:

        http://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=28191

    • SJ M.D.

      So a great mood-enhancing breakfast could be a combination af seeds, nuts and fruit – and the best part – it tastes delicious!

      • HemoDynamic, M.D.

        And Oatmeal!
        ;-}

    • HemoDynamic, M.D.

      If only you could sow the seeds of money!
      ;-}

    • Elvin

       I have concluded a 7-day experiment of adding a daily 50 grams of (ground)
      pumpkin seeds to my food so as to obtain  250 mg of tryptophan. (Mentioned in my comments much lower in this page.) Contrary to my
      expectations, it was a total failure. There was no improvement to my normally
      good mood; in fact, it seems to have had a somewhat depressing effect. (For
      the benefit of anyone who might leap to an easy conclusion, no, it is not the
      case that my body is so flooded from competing amino acids from animal foods
      that the 250 mg of tryptophan never had a chance. I have eaten a starch-based
      whole foods diet without animal source foods for years.) Now, I cannot be the
      only person who reads this site who has done a similar tryptophan experiment
      with seeds of some sort or another. The rest of you : what were your
      results?

      • Briflanagan

        U were already in a good mood u said. So, what more do u want or expect. They are not amphetamines. :) I think the idea was that they would elevate the mood of people not feeling so good and you didn’t need that. Good for you. :)

        • Geoffrey Levens. L.Ac.

          Typical tryptophan dosage via supplements for mood change is more like 2000 mg twice per day and maybe  3rd dose at bedtime…

  • Paulc

    I doubt that seeds are healthier than nuts considering the unfavorable omega 6/3 ratio of most seeds- except for flax seeds, and the favorable ratio for walnuts.

    • Toxins

      Seeds tend to have the best omega 3 to 6 rations as well as higher nutrient density

      • Elvin

        1) About the omega-6 : omega-3 ratio in anything, there is
        no need to engage in idle speculation, repeat hearsay etc etc. Either directly
        consult USDA
        National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference – Release 24 (USDA sr24) 
        online, or use tools which incorporate its database, such as Cron-o-meter (there
        is both a downloadable and a web version) , or http://nutritiondata.self.com or
        various other online sites. Enter 100 grams of something and then see what the
        inter-ratio of the fats are. This operation does not take any intelligence,
        but does require a little will-power.

        2) The fact is that with these already mentioned exceptions that come to
        mind right away — flax, chia, walnuts — well-known seeds and nuts both generally
        all have very bad ratios: much too much omega-6. Walnuts have a ratio that is
        just barely good, but consider: are walnuts all that you are going to be eating
        in a day? What about the ratio in the other foods? Total context, not foods
        considered in isolation.

        3) As noted elsewhere on this page,
        persons following Gregerian recommendations will be taking algae or yeast
        derived longchain omega-3 (DHA), and such persons, presumably — is this so Dr
        G? — need not concern themselves with the shortchain omega-3 (ALA) directly
        available in plants. (There is another school of thought about how much short
        –> longchain conversion takes place and the need/wisdom or not for longchain
        supplementation but that is another matter.)

        4) Paulc: Elsewhere on this page you
        ‘translate’ ’hoi-polloi’ as ’the people’. Well, literally yes, but it would have
        been odd to use it in that sense. And in fact , in English it is usually used in
        a connotative sense; so, my saying ‘us hoi-polloi’ would be like saying ‘us
        plebs’, ‘us proles’, ‘us laymen’ or something of that sort. 

        • Toxins

           What are you trying to prove here? Most non nut plant foods have adequate omega 3/6 ratios. My conclusion to the fact that seeds are more nutrient dense then nuts comes from the evidence provided by Jeff Novick showing vitamin and mineral content per 100 grams of each nut/seed.

          • Elvin

            It is possible there is mutual misunderstanding going on.
            First, although I was replying to your post, Toxins, what I wrote was to both
            you and Paulc. Second, all that I meant, in short, was
            that if one is going the ALA route (as I do), then use of flaxseed or chia —
            not walnuts – is probably the way to make for a good omega-6/3 balance
            .           At length, I restate and rephrase what I meant, like so:
                    In general both seeds and nuts have bad omega 6/3 balances, the
            notable exceptions being chia and flax among the seeds, and walnuts among the
            nuts. But in the big picture of the entire diet, the just barely acceptable
            omega 6/3 balance found in walnuts is not going to be of any use in the context
            of , say, what I ate yesterday (food names and values from USDA sr24 via
            Cron-o-meter — and ‘raw’ means the item was weighed in that state, not that I
            necessarily ate it that way): 
            item                                                                                  
            weight     kcal Kiwifruit, green,
            raw                                                                75g      
            45.8Peppers, sweet, red,
            raw                                                       50g    
             15.5Cabbage, red,
            raw                                                                  50g     
            15.5Broccoli,
            raw                                                                           
            100g     34.0Tomato products, canned, paste, without salt added         
            75g       61.5Carrots,
            raw                                                                             
            400g    164.0Salt,
            table                                                                                
             0.12g    0.0Cabbage,
            raw                                                                        
             400g     100.0Cereals, oats, regular and quick, not fortified,
            dry              100g       379.0Wheat flour,
            whole-grain                                                       200g      
            680.0Rice, brown, medium-grain, cooked                                  
            500g       560.0Sweet potato, cooked, boiled, without
            skin                        500g       380.0  This gives me 7.0 g of
            omega-6 against only 0.4 g of omega-3. The problem is the grains .Now what
            is the sensible thing to do in order to correct the imbalance, add walnuts, or
            add ground flaxseed? If I add this,   Seeds,
            flaxseed                                                             2tbsp,
            ground      74.8     Then I have, in the day’s food, 7.8 g of
            omega-6 vs 3.6 g of omega-3. Maybe too much of both (I hope my saying this will
            not cause Strix undue alarm) but anyway a good balance.         But now
            what happens if instead of that 74.8 calories of ground flaxseed I use 74.8
            calories of walnuts?      Nuts, walnuts,
            english                                                    
            11.44 g                 74.8       Let’s look, in isolation at the omega
            6/3 composition of the walnuts. It’s 4.4 g of the first and 1.0 g of the second.
            Barely ok, falling actually outside the minimally desired ratio of 4:1 for
            omega-6 to omega-3. And so what corrective affect, if any, would this have in
            the context of all that other food? Let’s see. Substituting the walnuts for the
            flaxseed we now have, in the total day’s food, 11.3 g of omega-6 vs. 1.5 g of
            omega-3. Useless.            No wonder that Jeff Novick recommends an
            optional 1~2 TB of ground flaxseed (which is precisely why I do it), and not
            walnuts.               

             

            PS: Toxins, if you also post on the McDougall site, what
            is the name you use there? I’d like to see what you have written. And you as
            well, philologist Paulc.
             

          • Elvin

             Sorry about the unreadable formatting. I don’t know what to do about it.

        • paulc

           Actually Elvin, a literal translation of hoi polloi would be “the many.”

      • PaulC

         Hi Toxins; thanks for writing; I normally learn a great deal from your erudite comments. I decided to compile a short list of seeds and their omega 6/3 ratios when the data was available for both. I didn’t include legumes which are technically seeds, but generally have low ratios, and so, are no problem. Here’s the list and I invite you to confirm my results:

        Caraway seeds               20.8
        Celery seeds                  17.6
        Chia seeds                      0.33
        Cumin seeds                  17.6
        Dill seeds                        6.4
        Flax seeds                      0.26
        Lotus seeds                  10.6
        Mustard seeds                0.97
        Poppy seed                  104
        Pumpkin/squash seeds 114
        Safflower seeds            253
        Sesame seeds              95.8
        Sisymbrium seeds          0.39
        Sunflower seeds          311

        Since an acceptable ratio is only 4, I would think it best to avoid noshing on all seeds with the exception of chia, flax, mustard and sisymbrium. I’ve no doubt that we can get plenty of tryptophan from these 4 safe seeds. I would definitely avoid poppy seeds, especially if you’re scheduled to take an illegal drugs test. If you did a similar list for nuts, I think you’d find that only walnuts have an acceptable ratio.
        Keep those comments coming, Toxins; they’re great.

        • Toxins

          Thanks for the list, I agree that the omega 6/3 ratio should be 4:1 or better. My comment was specifically aimed towards nuts vs seeds.

          Peanuts have a ratio of 4400: 1
          Almonds have a ratio of 1800: 1
          Brazil nuts have a ratio of 500: 1 

          These nuts are widely consumed and have the worst ratios. Comparring nuts and seeds specifically, as a common trend, the nuts tend to have poorer ratios.

  • http://poxacuatl.wordpress.com/ Strix

    I eat lots of sunflower and pumpkin seeds, so what’s my excuse?  I guess I’m just a cranky…brat ;^)

    Squash seeds are awesome and I get a lot of mine “free” when Autumn gourds are abundant and inexpensive. I dry them myself and even season some for variety. Once dried they can last all year long. Don’t throw out those seeds when cleaning your squashes or Jack ‘O’ Lanterns!

  • WCabrera

    I’m new to your AMAZING video clips!  Thank you for taking the time to do this! I will be highlighting your videos regularly in my postings and musings.  It’s a confusing mess out there on our information superhighways. The research is there.  We just need the bottom line.  Thank you for being our nutritional champion!

  • 1morcker

    The seeds may be helpful but I’ve found that combining a quality vegan diet with a sufficient amount of exercise, rest, sun, water and fresh air really helps improve my mood. Actually, I think rest is a biggie, and few of us get enough of it, guilt free or worry free. 

    • Lloyd

      Indeed. You said it all. A lot of people don’t exercise and that tends
      to catch up to them. My issue was not getting enough sun and I’m fixing
      that now.

  • Shahjgd

    it seems that vegetarian food is best for human body and mind.

  • Elvin

    And these fine results were obtained how many mg of tryptophan (from squash seeds) per day? Do I misunderstand in thinking it was 10 mg?? I see from USDA sr24 (via CRON-o-meter) that to get 10mg  tryptophan from ‘seeds, pumpkin and squash seed kernels, dried’ would take 180 g of them, which is …….. 1006 Kcal. 

    • Elvin

       My error. In fact 9 g (= 50.3 kcal) of pumpkin seeds, according to the USDA, is already 100 mg.

      But, as Emhstein asks: what is the amount that needs to be consumed for effect?

      • Paulc

        Hi Elvin. According to http://www.ajcn.org/content/68/2/303.full.pdf
        you need a minimum of 4.01mg of tryptophan per day for every kilogram of body mass and 5.02 mg to be on the safe side.. So, using the higher figure, if you weigh 120 pounds, you’d need about 275 mg per day, if you weigh 155 pounds, you’d need about 355 mg per day and if you weigh 180 pounds, you’d need about 410 mg per day. But my opinion is that you should also choose foods with a low omega 6 to omega 3 ratio- a problem with most seeds- or take flax seeds to make the overall ratio favorable, around no more than 4 to 1. Also, try not to get too much methionine in the protein foods you choose. Best of luck to all of us.

        • Elvin

           
          Paulc: 

           

           (1) What you have written is puzzling, because you have taken great
          care to answer a non-question.The question is not ‘what is the daily RDA/DRI etc
          for tryptophan?’. The question is: ‘what amount of daily tryptophan was used in
          the info-video happiness-report; and how does that translate, for us
          hoi-polloi, into a daily hit of pumpkin seeds or sesame?’  Of course this is
          going to be (much) greater than the RDA.

           

          (2) For people who follow Gregerian rather than (say) Novickian
          suggestions, the question of omega 6/3 ratio is not, I would think, going to a
          matter of concern since the Gregerians are taking ‘
          250 to 500 mg daily of yeast or algae-­‐derived DHA and/or EPA’ — which
          presumably trumps by a big margin the amount of DHA derived from the AA of
          flaxseed. Gregerians will also be less interested in the question of increase in
          fat-derived total calories resulting from addition of the
          seeds. And substitution of the seeds for nuts, is after all, an option of course
          … but wait – this is a meaninglessly abstract discussion without knowing what
          amount of seeds we are taking about. If the kindly Dr Greger would choose to end
          the suspense it would be a great mercy.

              

          3) So far as I can see, it has no direct relation to seeds as such, but
          what you say about methionine is however correct, and interested readers will
          want to look here: http://www.medical-hypotheses.com/article/S0306-9877%2808%2900383-6/abstract .
          Its restriction may have healthspan/lifespan optimising affects similar to those
          delivered by CRON (or CRAN, if you want to to substitute the concept ‘adequate’
          for ‘optimal’.)

          • Paulc

             Hi again Elvin,
            Okay,  now that I understand your question, I directly quote the original article on social anxiety:

            Materials and methods
            For this study, 2 separate food bars were prepared.

            (i) Food 1 (tryptophan bar) contained 25 g of deoiled butternut
            squash seed meal and 25 g of dextrose. The tryptophan
            content of food 1 was 250 mg/food bar.
            (ii) Food 2 (placebo bar) contained 50 g of carbohydrate
            composed of dried fruit and dextrose. The tryptophan content
            was 0 mg for food 2.

            So, all that is needed is  250 mg of tryptophan plus a handful of carbs.

            Hope that helps hoi polloi (Greek for “the people”)
            PS your link to medical hypotheses seems to be broken. Best Wishes

          • Elvin

             Paulc:

            I see, thanks very much. As for that url, it works fine when I click it. If it still does not work for you, do a search for the title of the article: ‘The low-methionine content of vegan diets may make methionine restriction feasible as a life extension strategy ‘.

          • Elvin

             CRON-o-meter is insufficiently fine tuned, but from www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/12354500/Data/SR24/reports/sr24fg12.pdf
            it can be seen that 100 g of ‘Seeds, pumpkin and squash seed kernels, dried ‘
            contains 0.576 g of tryptophan. That’s 576 mg. Now, 43.4028% of 576 is
            250.000128. And 43.4028% of 100 g is of course 43.4028 g. So, to get this 250 mg
            of tryptophan will take that amount of the seeds (= about 1.5 oz), which in turn
            is about 260 kcal (because 100g is 599 kcal). I hope I am wrong either in
            reasoning or calculation and will be corrected; otherwise it looks not like an
            experiment in happiness but an experiment in getting fat. At any rate, we who
            practice CRAN and keep our BMI in the lower part of the ‘normal’ range do not
            blithely throw 260 kcal into our mouths. That being said, the pursuit of science
            does sometimes require personal sacrifice , yes.

             

            I will leave it to someone else to do the calculations for sesame
            seed.

          • Elvin

             Low-fat sesame flour might be the lowest calorie food source :

            http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/nut-and-seed-products/3074/2

              That is to say, per 100 g, 1097 mg of
            tryptophan, but only 333 kcal. So for the daily dose of 250 mg, that would only
            be about 80 kcal.(Versus around 260 kcal from pumpkin seeds.)

          • Elvin

             I here announce that yesterday I began a 7-day experiment of inclusion of
            daily 50 g of ground pumpkin seeds into my diet. This will, if nothing else,
            greatly impact my normally only having about  10% of fat-derived total calories
            daily. But science sometimes calls for self-sacrifice, does it not? Consider the
            case of A. A. Bogdanov who fatally experimented with rejuvenation through blood
            transfusion:         ‘In 1924, Bogdanov started his blood transfusion
            experiments [...] after undergoing 11 blood transfusions, he remarked with
            satisfaction on the improvement of his eyesight, suspension of balding, and
            other positive symptoms [...] Leonid Krasin wrote to his wife that “Bogdanov
            seems to have become 7, no, 10 years younger after the [transfusion]“. In
            1925-1926, Bogdanov founded the Institute for Haemotology and Blood
            Transfusions, which was later named after him. But a later transfusion cost him
            life, when he took the blood of a student suffering from malaria and
            tuberculosis. (Bogdanov died, but the student injected with his blood made a
            complete recovery.)’

                  

            If Bogdanov could give his life for such a cause, certainly we followers of
            those notorious ‘no fat’ [sic] doctors can up our fat intake for a few days,
            yes?

          • Paulc

            So Elvin, what do you think of the latest study on CRAN and monkeys?
             http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444772804577619394017185860.html?mod=rss_Health&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wsj%2Fxml%2Frss%2F3_7089+%28WSJ.com%3A+Health%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo#articleTabs%3Darticle

          • Elvin

             I’d go with Luigi Fontana’s dissenting comments (esp re
            protein) about it, here: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/calorie-restriction-monkeys/. 
            And you are right about ‘polloi’ of course.

          • Gabriel

            And how do you deoil the seeds? This looks like innaplicable.

  • Emhstein

    How many servings of Pumpkin Seeds would need to be consumed to raise low Serotonin levels? 

  • Paulc

    Another mood-elevating nutrient would be theanine. See Dr. Greger’s video at http://nutritionfacts.org/video/dietary-brain-wave-alteration/

  • BPCveg

    paulc, toxins: very good points.

    One other metric that may be of interest is the total omega-6 content per 100g. Some examples follow:

    pumpkin seeds:  20.7 g omega-6 per 100g
    sunflower seeds: 37.4 g omega-6 per 100g
    sesame seeds: 21.3 g omega-6 per 100g

    versus

    peanuts: 15.6 g omega-6 per 100g
    almonds: 12.1 g omega-6 per 100g
    brazil nuts: 20.6 g omega-6 per 100g

    So, even though, as Toxins points out, these three nuts have on average a much higher omega-6 to omega-3 ratio than the above-mentioned seeds, the nuts contribute less omega-6 to the diet than the seeds. In all above-listed cases the omega-3 contribution is essentially negligible, so total omega-6 contribution may matter more than the omega-6:omega-3 ratio.

  • DouG

    How does one deoil pumpkin seeds? And what would be a recommended carbohydrate to consume with the seed?

  • hkyriazi

    Judging by the chart alone, it seems that those on the regular “diet” simply got more depressed (higher readings), while those on the largely vegetarian diet stayed the same. This could be interpreted as a plug for the control conditions (no dietary restrictions at all – just eat what you want?), rather than the vegetarian diet.

  • thissal

    Animal protein is definitely a downer in my experience. However, to say that it’s due to relatively low levels of tryptophan is assuming a lot. It could be due to the fact that animal proteins are relatively high in the acidic amino acids which may also result in a mood downer as well as alternator.

  • Gabriel

    Don’t seeds contain too much omega 6 oils?

  • Liz

    Its amazing how different the dietary advice given is from Vegetarian doctors, to Low-carb Doctors, to Paleo or similar to Paleo doctor. One wonders! I will try full on vegetarian lower fat for 2 weeks right now, see im my ongoing depression gets better, if so I will extend the trial for a month, see how I feel. I really hope I dont get a bunch of cavities from the added carbohydrate and sugar from fruit though! I wont brush right after eating, and follow a tooth care protocol to help me anyway.

    • Geoffrey Levens, L.Ac.

      A few hot tips from a somewhat seasoned veteran and long time acupuncturist (me): Do not base your diet on fruit. Don’t eat more than 4-5 pieces/day max and emphasize the lower glycemic ones like berries and kiwi. And no added sweeteners! Beans will likely help stabilize your blood sugar better than intact whole grains; regardless which you choose avoid flour products, even 100% whole grain ones as they turn to blood sugar too fast. Blood sugar spikes and crashes can really aggravate depression! Main food by volume should be nonstarchy vegetables. Clean your mouth after every meal and don’t snack. Only eat if you are hungry, and don’t eat if you are not truly hungry. That means, don’t eat out of boredom, depression, anxiety, etc. not even just because it tastes good. Better if you tried this for 5 or 6 weeks as depending on what you have been eating you may have some detox/adjustments to go through. Best to you on this experiment!

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