What does your hair have in common with turkey?
They both contain a chemical called tryptophan. Tryptophan is one of the amino acids that make up the protein structure of hair. It is also easily degraded by UV radiation so when scientists measure sun damage to hair, they can measure how much tryptophan is lost.
Ok, that’s mildly interesting, but why is hair related to turkey?
Because tryptophan is also found in turkey. In fact, it’s the chemical that people claim is responsible for making you sleepy after a big Thanksgiving dinner.
Except that’s not really true. Snopes.com has an excellent debunking of the turkey-tryptophan myth. While it IS true that some forms of tryptophan can be a natural sedative, the kind in turkey (and many other meats as well) doesn’t make you drowsy. So, if you doze off after a big Thanksgiving meal, blame it on too much wine and mashed potatoes and not the tryptophan!
And finally, since today is Thanksgiving here in the US, we’d like to thank all our readers for their continued support. Without your questions we wouldn’t be able to do this blog. Also, a big thanks to all our sponsors, particularly New York Day Spa. If you haven’t checked out their website, you’re missing some very valuable beauty care information.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
why is it that every once in a while you post an article I cannot see?
like the one below this one on “glycolic acid/tatoos” and there was one a while ago about “the truth about onion juice”
Neither one could I access. weirdness
Bas,
I have no idea. Maybe it is related to the browser that you are using. When I look at the post using Firefox I see all of the posts. One option to prevent such problems is to subscribe to the site. You will get every post sent to you in the form of an email. In the meantime, we’ll investigate to see if we can figure out what is going on. Thanks
Left Brain