Expert Gobbles Up Myth About Turkey
If you feel sleepy after your holiday turkey dinner, don’t blame the bird, says Texas A&M University Professor Dr. Nicolaas Deutz.
As the myth goes, an amino acid found in turkey called tryptophan causes drowsiness.
But according to Deutz, an expert in nutrition and a professor at Texas A&M’s Center for Translational Research in Aging and Longevity (CTRAL), that theory is wrong on several levels.
As he points out, drowsiness after a turkey dinner is much more likely due to the quantity of food rather than the turkey itself. Also, turkey contains no more tryptophan than any other kind of poultry. In fact, he says, tryptophan can be found in almost any protein.
“This story about tryptophan in turkey is just kind of a running joke,” he insists. “It has nothing to do with the tryptophan.”
