Secret lever
In fact, serotonin is not a hormone, but a neurotransmitter, that is, a substance that participates in carrying out nerve impulses. Accordingly, in the products it can not be contained. It is synthesized by the body itself from the amino acid tryptophan, which is really a lot in cheese.
Serotonin, according to modern medicine, plays a major role in the regulation of mood. And also - sleep, appetite, the work of the neuro-endocrine system and the ability of the brain to learn to cognize the new (the so-called cognitive function). So the substance is not that important - irreplaceable! However, this does not mean that the more it is (and tryptophan as raw material for production), the better. Psychiatrists, for example, say: excess serotonin causes panic, and a shortage, I immediately add, - depression and bulimia (uncontrollable gluttony). Another interesting nuance: serotonin does not remain in the body in an unchanged form and quantity, it is constantly synthesized and disintegrated, and if its turnover in the brain cells is disturbed, it can lead to severe depression with a craving for suicide. It is the amount of serotonin that is influenced by antidepressant drugs of the latest generation.
His homeland
Amino acids are "bricks", of which all the proteins on the Earth are composed. As part of protein food, their 20. 9 belong to the irreplaceable, that is, the human body can not synthesize them and must certainly receive with food. Tryptophan, which is rich in cheese, is an indispensable amino acid, and it is needed not only for the production of serotonin. but also for the structure of muscle fibers and other tissues. Serotonin is obtained after tryptophan consistently treat several enzymes. These enzymes are found in nerve cells (neurons), which are concentrated mainly in the brain. In addition, strangely enough, in the turnover of serotonin, cells ... of the intestinal mucosa quite actively participate. So all sorts of dysbacteriosis and others like them - a direct way to the violation of serotonin metabolism. So how does this mysterious and so important neurotransmitter work? I explain: the nerve signals are transmitted through the so-called synapses. This is the place of contact between two nerve cells (neurons) or a neuron and that cell, where, ultimately, a signal (for example, a muscle) comes. He conducts a nervous impulse, and as soon as the work is done, a special enzyme captures it and destroys it - it is necessary to stop the transfer of momentum. This is called "reverse capture of serotonin," it is antidepressants that inhibit it. When serotonin is needed the next time, it will again be "made" of tryptophan.
Why cheese?
Then why do those who lose weight attack the cheese? Is it really a tryptophan? After all, he, like the whole set of essential amino acids, is contained in animal proteins, Why then does no one go crazy with chicken or fat-free cottage cheese? Maybe it's about the amount of tryptophan, which really is a lot of cheese? In solid grades - from 660 to 1000 mg per 100 g of product! And we immediately ask ourselves the second question: how much tryptophan a day a person needs? Science has long calculated: we need at least 3.5 mg tryptophan per 1 kg of weight per day. Let's multiply: at a weight of 70 kg the need will be 245 mg per day, with a weight of 80 kg - 280 mg, and so on. And that's all! A proliferation of Internet recommendations to receive 1 and even 2 g of tryptophan per day have no scientific basis under themselves. When you look at the tables, you will see that you can get the necessary amount of tryptophan from a very small piece of cheese, as well as from many other quite dietary products. That is, there are no biochemical bases to eat even 100 g of cheese per day. 100 grams of cheese (an average of 830 mg of tryptophan) is for a person weighing 225 kg! Do you weigh so much? Addiction to cheese during the diet is corny: it is delicious. It is a gourmet product, it has a peculiar aroma, a very attractive taste, which is also created by high fat content. L sitting on an ill-considered diet, a person usually refuses to himself in goodness, which provokes a breakdown. The craving for cheese is psycho-emotional, not biochemical. But back to the cheese. According to scientific data, tryptophan is found in all animal proteins, that is, it can be easily obtained from meat, fish, cottage cheese, which are well complemented by soy, peas and beans. However, you can not focus on just one tryptophan. It should not just be eaten, but also digested and processed! And for the last two processes it is important that the essential amino acids in our food are in the optimal ratio. Modern man most often suffers from a lack of three essential amino acids: tryptophan, lysine and methionine.
Three councils of raw food
If you watch the weight, pay attention to the fat content of your pet after all. Two thin plates of cheese the size of a compact disc is enough to ensure that it provides you with tryptophan and does not affect the waistline. And this is in addition to the condition that you can not abandon the usual cheese, the fat content of which in dry matter is 45-55% (in the form of food, respectively, 26-29%). However, now many low-fat varieties, they are only 10-17% fat. By the way, in them, the percentage of tryptophan is higher: once fat is removed, it means that the share of other substances, including amino acids, increases. To assimilate tryptophan and produce serotonin, vitamin B, folic acid, magnesium and iron are important. These substances can be obtained from beef liver (there are a lot of tryptophan in it, by the way), oatmeal, buckwheat, greens (including leaf lettuce). Magnesium is abundant in dark rice, bran, seafood, sea kale, dried apricots. Eat balanced, do not sit on diets that limit the range of foods. The best way to get maximum tryptophan is not to eat cheese in kilograms, but to combine different types of protein: from meat and cereals, from fish and beans and so on.