Kent Ninomiya. Just like every year, I had my fill of turkey, stuffing and pie then moved over to the couch where I promptly passed out while pretending to watch the football game. Everyone likes to blame the turkey for their Thanksgiving nap but Rich Maloof of MSN Health & Fitness begs to differ. He writes... Tired? Don’t blame the turkey. There can be many reasons to drift off on Thanksgiving Day, but eating turkey isn’t really one of them. The amino acid L-tryptophan in turkey is popularly cited as a kind of dietary sedative, but nutritionist Samantha Heller lays bare the urban myth.“L-tryptophan is the chemical precursor to the neurotransmitter serotonin, a calming agent in the brain,” says Heller. “Eating foods that contain tryptophan therefore can increase serotonin and, in some instances, make you sleepy. But tryptophan only has a noticeable ‘sleepy’ effect if it is taken on an empty stomach [unlikely at Thanksgiving!] with no other protein in the meal. Post-dinner lethargy is more likely due to too much food, alcohol or Uncle George’s 400th telling of the time he almost fell in a sink hole.”
