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There isevidence that blood tryptophan levels are unlikely to be altered by changingthe diet, but for some time, tryptophan has been available in health foodstores as a dietary supplement.
Clinicalresearch has shown mixed results with respect to tryptophan's effectiveness asa sleep aid, especially in normal patients. Tryptophan has shown someeffectiveness for treatment of a variety of other conditions typicallyassociated with low serotonin levels in the brain. In particular, tryptophanhas shown some promise as an antidepressant alone and as an"augmenter" of antidepressant drugs. However, the reliability ofthese clinical trials has been questioned because of lack of formal controlsand repeatability. In addition, tryptophan itself may not be useful in thetreatment of depression or other serotonin-dependent moods, but may be usefulin understanding the chemical pathways that will give new research directionsfor pharmaceuticals.