Posted by JGalt on December 30, 2001, at 20:31:59
In reply to dl-phenylalanine vs. l-tyrosine question????, posted by 3 Beer Effect on December 30, 2001, at 14:28:31
The path after dopamine is dopamine > >norepinephrine > >epinephrine. Of course, there are also various enzymes along the way that can deactivate any of those, which is in part why the amount of epinephrine in the brain is very small (as are the number of receptors) in comparison to dopamine or norepinephrine. So therefore, both amino acids may eventually convert to both neurotransmitters. As for which crosses the blood brain barrier the easiest, I have read only one study on it, but it concluded that DL-Phenylaline was by far most effective in this respect.
In my experience, I get about the same effect from DL-phenylaline as I do from N-acetyl-tyrosine.
The main reason people take DL-phenylaline instead of l-tyrosine though is because DL-phenylaline is also able to convert to 2-Phenylethylamine, which has been suggested as everything from "the love chemical" to "nature's amphetamine". If the phenylaline converts to tyrosine, it cannot convert to 2-PEA. The main problem with PEA though is that it seems to have a rather short life in the brain, and though new dl-phenylaline crossing the blood brain barrier will bring more, the effect of the PEA will run out much faster than the other's effects. That is the primary reason a low dose of selegiline is usually combined with DL-phenylaline, because the selegiline will prevent the rapid breakdown of the 2-PEA.
Do you notice any effect from the GABA? It won't cross the blood-brain barrier, but some have said that its effects in relaxing the body are good nonethe less, especially in several gram doses.
Taking the L-tyrosine only in the morning is a reasonable idea, though you could probably take it anytime up to 8 hours before bed. The one caveat is that your stomach has to be empty (and I don't mean half empty!) for the amino acids to work properly.
When I used to play with amino's, I would often take 500mg of DL-Phen when I first woke up, then not eat breakfast, nor lunch, and then around 2 or so take some N-acetyl-tyrosine (converts a lot faster seems like than normal tyrosine), then finally eat a large meal around 5pm or so (this was a powerlifting/bodybuilding diet I was on, worked quite well with dosing amino's. You can still have anything that has only sugar in it and take the amino's, or even fat for that matter, just so long as nothing that had protein in it is in your stomach when you take them.
JGalt
poster:JGalt
thread:88248
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011222/msgs/88292.html