You may need a higher intake for specific benefits, such as improved sleep quality. However, it’s important to note that the tolerable upper intake level is about 4,500 milligrams per day.

Tryptophan is used by the body to build proteins, muscles, enzymes and neurotransmitters. What’s left, the study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation revealed, may be broken down ...

Tryptophan is a naturally occurring amino acid found in many foods. We explain what it does, how it impacts your health, and what to know about supplements.

To get the amount of tryptophan required to cause a food coma, he said, we’d have to eat about 8 pounds of turkey meat — about half of a typical bird meant to serve a crowd.

“Tryptophan from turkey is unlikely to enter the brain and make enough serotonin to make us sleepy,” Malin said. So you can’t blame the gobbler on your table alone for your sudden sleepiness ...

Astronomers have discovered high amounts of tryptophan, an amino acid key in the formation of life, in a nearby star-forming region of space called the Perseus Molecular Complex.