an excerpt from
"L-Phenylalanine"
IN
Tried and True Remedies From Nature's Pharmacy
A Keats Good Health Guide
by Syd Baumel
Keats Publishing Inc., New Canaan, Conn.
McGraw Hill
Copyright (c) 1998 by Syd Baumel
L-phenylalanine's vocation for mood-lifting was first revealed in 1966
when an intravenous drip of the amino acid lifted the spirits of patients
with Parkinson's disease (Kravitz et al., 1984). Twenty years later, researchers
came back for a second look. A very low oral dose of LPA (L-phenylalanine)
(250 mg/day) sparked recovery or improvement in over 80% of 155 depressives
who hadn't responded to the weak antidepressant L-deprenyl (Birkmayer et
al., 1984). That same year, very large doses of LPA (up to 14 g/day) together
with 200 mg/day of vitamin B6 were administered to 40 depressed patients
at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago. Though most
of these patients had previously been treatment-resistant, 11 recovered
completely on LPA, 20 improved substantially and 2 were bouyed to the point
of hypomania (Kravitz et al., 1984; Sabelli et al., 1986). Another psychiatrist
soon reported that a low dose of LPA quickly ended the depression of one
in every two bipolar patients (Simonson, 1985). More recently, 10 patients
with severe, intractable depression were treated to a cocktail of low dose
L-deprenyl (5 mg), vitamin B6 (100 mg), and LPA (2 to 6 g/day). "Nine of
10 patients experienced mood elevation within hours of phenylalanine administration,"
their psychiatrist wrote, "and 6 viewed their episodes of depression as
terminated within 2 to 3 days" (Sabelli, 1991).
LPA has found its way into the antidepressant arsenal of many nutritionally
oriented practitioners (Braverman et al., 1997; Slagle, 1987; Weil, 1995).
Eric Braverman, M.D., and associates (1997) found it was just the thing
for an emotionally flat, treatment-resistant patient: "Her normal personality
returned...and she developed once again a normal range of emotions." LPA
has been my own staunchest natural shield against depression since I discovered
it in 1981.
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R E F E R E N C E S
-
Birkmayer,
W. et al., "L-deprenyl plus L-phenylalanine in the Treatment of Depression,"
Journal of Neural Transmission, 159 (1, 1984):81-87.
-
Braverman,
Eric. R., with Carl C. Pfeiffer et al., The Healing Nutrients Within (New
Canaan, Conn.: Keats Publishing, Inc., 1997).
-
Kravitz,
Howard M., et al., "Dietary Supplements of Phenylalanine and Other Amino
Acid Precursors of Brain Neuroamines in the Treatment of Depressive Disorders,"
Journal of the American Osteopathic Organization, 84 (September 1984, Suppl):119-123.
-
Sabelli,
H. C., "Rapid Treatment of Depression with Selegiline-Phenylalanine Combination"
(letter), Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 52 (March 1991):137.
-
Sabelli,
H. C., et al., "Clinical Studies on the Phenylalanine Hypothesis of Affective
Disorder: Urine and Blood Phenylacetic Acid and Phenylalanine Dietary Supplements,"
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 47 (February 1986):66-70.
-
Simonson,
M., "L-Phenylalanine" (letter), Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 46 (August
1985):355.
-
Slagle,
Priscilla, The Way Up from Down (New York: Random House, 1987).
-
Weil,
Andrew, Natural Health, Natural Medicine (revised edition) (Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 1995).
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