Since it’s Thanksgiving Day here in the U.S. we’re re-running our annual post about hairy turkey…
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.
Hairy turkey
Tryptophan is also 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!
P.S.
As always, the Beauty Brains are VERY thankful for all our wonderful readers who make this blog possible. We love you all!!!
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Interesting! Esp about the “turkey makes you sleepy” myth. I’m always sleepy after a big meal, but that’s just because I’m stuffed.
Although, some ppl shouldn’t know about that turkey/amino/protein connection. Soon, you’ll have idiots doing “Turkey Pre-poo” and “Turkey Deep Conditioners”.
P.S. I am thankful for YOU all at Beauty Brains! You have taught me to be a better skeptic when it comes to beauty and its saved me tons of money in the past few months.
That’s an interesting fact. I thought that sun damaged hair would be by UV rays but really didn’t know what it damages in the hair. And why do tryptophan makes us sleepy ?