5-HTP-induced diarrhea - a case report

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Just to add to the caution about 5-hydroxytryptophan and diarrhea, please read this case report:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=2276553 & blobtype=pdf

"The case: A 56-year-old woman presented with diarrhea (6–8 loose stools daily with no obvious blood). The diarrhea was intermittent but had persisted for 12 weeks. The patient reported having some fecal incontinence....

...... the patient reported that, for the last 18 months, she had been taking 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP, 100 mg daily, Natural Factors, Coquitlam, BC), which she had purchased from a local health food store. The patient was advised to stop taking this supplement, and a 24-hour urine collection to test for 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid was repeated 2 weeks later. At this time, the 24-hour excretion of 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid was 18 ìmol. Her diarrhea also improved and had not returned 6 months later."

See also this important bit of information, in relation to 5-HTP use in treatment of depression, from:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=257800 & blobtype=pdf

"5-HTP is an abbreviation for 5-hydroxytryptophan, the immediate precursor of serotonin. Fewer placebo-controlled studies have been reported for 5-HTP than for SAMe, but there is some evidence from small studies that it is better than placebo. It is considered a natural treatment, not only because it is present in the body, but also because it is extracted from an African plant (Griffonia simplicifolia). It is usually sold either as a crude extract of the plant or in pills with a stated content of 25 mg, 50 mg or 100 mg. 5-HTP, like dopa, is decarboxylated in the periphery. In studies where 5-HTP was found to be better than placebo, it was given at doses of 200 mg per day or more with a peripheral decarboxylase inhibitor. The dose needed to have an antidepressant effect when given without a peripheral decarboxylase inhibitor, as in preparations sold over the counter, is not known. However, it would probably be very expensive (because a higher dose would be required) and would cause serious gastrointestinal side effects, as a result of the serotonin formed by the action of decarboxylase in the gastrointestinal tract."

So, as I understand it, you have to give a decarboxylase inhibitor (in other words, an inhibitor of the enzyme that converts 5-hydroxytryptophan to 5-hydroxytrytamine (serotonin)) if you want to avoid the gastrointestinal side effects of 5-HTP.

Dave R.