5-HTP for SEROTONIN to treat depression

5-HTP comparable to popular SSRIs /antidepressants - Double-blind studies of depression sufferers have compared 5-HTP to many of the popular SSRIs and tricyclic antidepressants, showing consistent results as good, if not better, but with much milder side-effects.

Since the early 1970s, at least 15 studies involving 511 subjects have evaluated the clinical effects of 5-HTP on depression. Overall, study results showed a significant improvement in 56% of the subjects.
In one study 59 depressed patients were given 150-300 mg of 5-HTP /day. Astoundingly, 40 of the patients (68%) showed a favorable response, and most within one week.

Several small studies have compared 5-HTP to standard antidepressants - The best one was a 6-week study of 63 people given either 5-HTP (100 mg 3 times daily) or an antidepressant in the Prozac family (fluvoxamine, 50 mg 3 times / day). Researchers found equal benefit between the supplement and the drug. However, 5-HTP caused fewer and less severe side effects.

Studies show that the beta endorphins (the "feel good" hormones) are significantly increased after consumption of 200 mg. of 5-HTP /day by patients with severe depression.

Indoleamine Hypothesis - i.e. Depression is caused by SEROTONIN deficiency - Accumulated evidence supports the indoleamine hypothesis of depression, which suggests that major depression results from a deficiency of available SEROTONIN or inefficient SEROTONIN.

Among the evidence supporting this hypothesis is:

• The effectiveness of SSRIs on depression.
• A study found that the brains of the teenagers who committed suicide had about 1.7 times the total amount of SEROTONIN 2-A receptors (abbreviated as 5-HT_2A) in the frontal cortex (important in mood and decision making, among other roles) and the hippocampus (an area important in mood, learning, and memory). In addition, the gene signal for the SEROTONIN 2-A receptors was increased in the same regions. The receptor labeling method clearly indicated that SEROTONIN 2-A receptors were higher in the teenagers who committed suicide, and suggested that a particular cell type in a deep layer of the cortex was most affected.
• Evidence of reduced levels of 5-hydroxyindolacetic (5-HIAA) acid, a SEROTONIN metabolite, in the cerebral spinal fluid of depressed patients

Manuel Tancer, M.D. and Charles R. Schuster, Ph.D., SEROTONIN and dopamine system interactions in the reinforcing properties of psychostimulants: A research strategy;  Clinical Research Division on Substance Abuse Department of Pyschiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine