How To Get Natural Serotonin

April 06, 2023
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Serotonin is a word with a positive association. That’s probably because it is a substance that our bodies make that increases mood and positive feelings. Serotonin is a neuro-hormone that is metabolized from the amino acid, Tryptophan. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could get this from food sources? Can we?

Unfortunately, serotonin is not that easily taken in our brains. There are a few sources of foods that contain serotonin like bananas and pineapple. There are, however, no serotonin-rich foods that we can easily consume that then cross the blood-brain-barrier to metabolize in your brain. Search “foods that contain serotonin” and you will find many helpful sites that appear to authoritatively direct you to these foods. It’s a bit of a red herring and misleading. There are many popular articles out there that claim certain foods increase your brain serotonin but there is no such thing as any food high in serotonin that passes directly from your gut to your brain.

How To Increase Natural Serotonin

In order for your body to experience natural serotonin, it must be metabolized from foods high in tryptophan. Tryptophan is an essential amino acid (meaning that our bodies can’t just produce it) that we need to get in our diet. There are many tryptophan-rich foods and under the right conditions, foods that are rich in tryptophan metabolize to serotonin and then melatonin. The tryptophan must be concentrated and combined with a strategic carbohydrate to access the brain and metabolize properly to create this feel-good quality that boosts brain serotonin and melatonin. Fortunately, Zenbev Drink Mix was created by a medical doctor to do just that, foiling the Tryptophan Paradox.

Serotonin gained a lot of popularity sixty years ago with the hypothesis that depression was caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. Many studies were conducted to test this hypothesis, which seemed to make sense, and numerous drugs were developed to try to stop the depletion of serotonin, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), with the idea that the more serotonin kept chemically in the brain, the better.

Recent Discovery on Serotonin

Interestingly, a recent meta-analysis published in the journal Nature has turned the chemical understanding of serotonin upside down, upending decades of understanding and pharmacological treatment of depression. As far as the serotonin theory of depression goes, this thorough analysis “shows there is no convincing evidence that depression is associated with, or caused by, lower serotonin concentrations or activity.” While intentions were good ones, millions of people currently take these medications for depression and are not demonstrably better.

While the serotonin theory of depression has been called into question, this does not mean that serotonin is insignificant or to be discounted. Natural serotonin continues to be a positive hormone that contributes to feelings of elevated mood, calm and positivity. It does not appear to significantly assist with ameliorating depression, nor can it be easily consumed in foods, but it turns out that there is a way to get the best out of this ‘warm and fuzzy’ metabolite. Zenbev has crossed all these bridges and provides the most efficient way to benefit from natural tryptophan, serotonin and melatonin metabolism in one delicious beverage. What’s not to feel good about?