Theanine Both Reduces Serotonin And Increases Dopamine

[haidut]

Ray has mentioned briefly in some of his writings the amino acid L-theanine, which is found primarily in tea. He mentioned that it has been found to reduce brain serotonin. Here is a study that shows the effect of low, moderate, and high dosage of theanine. As you can see, while the high dosage was most effective, the moderate dosage was pretty close as well. The high dosage translates to 1,000mg (1g) or more for a human, which is not (financially) very practical to get even from supplements. However, the moderate dosage translates to about 400mg for a human and it is much more feasible financially since theanine tends to be quite expensive.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22943921

"...The concentration of DA in model group, theanine-low, middle, high dose groups and sham-operation group was (10.26 ± 1.12), (12.48 ± 1.09), (14.55 ± 0.94), (15.97 ± 0.92) and (11.98 ± 0.63) µg/g respectively (F = 43.76, P < 0.01). The concentration of 5-HT in these groups was (1.091 ± 0.160), (0.818 ± 0.101), (0.571 ± 0.050), (0.453 ± 0.111) and (0.863 ± 0.063) µg/g respectively (F = 48.68, P < 0.01)."

As you can see, a human dosage of about 400mg would increase dopamine by about 45% and reduce serotonin by about 44%. If this is true for humans, theanine should be a great addition to the BCAA/tyrosine/phenylalanine combo and a good alternative to pCPA.

 

[Kasper]

That is very interesting. 45% increase sounds like a lot to me.

If you buy L-theanine in bulk, it's affordable:
L-Theanine Powder - Amino Acid - Pure Bulk Supplement
100 gram of L-theanine powder (which is 200x 500mg) for 26 dollar.

If you have plans to make some new product DopaHigh @haidut, I would be your first customer. I don't see how BCAA is good for dopamine, as it decreases tyrosine uptake. Wouldn't tyrosine alone not be more effective ?

So what do we got for dopamine.
- l-theanine
- l-tyrosine
- taurine
- phenylalanine ?
- BCCA ?
- caffeine ?
- vitamin B6 ?

Or wait, does low serotonin means higher dopamine ? Is that what I'm missing here ?

 

[haidut]

That is very interesting. 45% increase sounds like a lot to me.

If you buy L-theanine in bulk, it's affordable:
L-Theanine Powder - Amino Acid - Pure Bulk Supplement
100 gram of L-theanine powder (which is 200x 500mg) for 26 dollar.

If you have plans to make some new product DopaHigh @haidut, I would be your first customer. I don't see how BCAA is good for dopamine, as it decreases tyrosine uptake. Wouldn't tyrosine alone not be more effective ?

So what do we got for dopamine.
- l-theanine
- l-tyrosine
- BCCA ?
- caffeine ?
- vitamin B6 ?

Thanks, I am experimenting with some combinations of amino acids and I also do serotonin saliva tests on myself. Not ideal, but it does seem to indicate at least the direction of your serotonin levels - i.e. if they are increasing or decreasing as a result of a supplement.
I will keep you posted.

 

[honeybee]

I took some last night-it helped me sleep. I only took 200 mg.

 

[Kasper]

Have you tried such a 1 g dosage yourself haidut ?
I read that which such dosages headache may be a side effect.
Maybe this is a sign of too much dopamine.

 

[haidut]

Have you tried such a 1 g dosage yourself haidut ?
I read that which such dosages headache may be a side effect.
Maybe this is a sign of too much dopamine.

I have tried 800mg and it is very sedative for me. There are studies that theanine increases GABA release, which explains its effects on me. Obviously, I would not recommend that high. The studies said 400mg works almost as well.

 

[haidut]

That is very interesting. 45% increase sounds like a lot to me.

If you buy L-theanine in bulk, it's affordable:
L-Theanine Powder - Amino Acid - Pure Bulk Supplement
100 gram of L-theanine powder (which is 200x 500mg) for 26 dollar.

If you have plans to make some new product DopaHigh @haidut, I would be your first customer. I don't see how BCAA is good for dopamine, as it decreases tyrosine uptake. Wouldn't tyrosine alone not be more effective ?

So what do we got for dopamine.
- l-theanine
- l-tyrosine
- taurine
- phenylalanine ?
- BCCA ?
- caffeine ?
- vitamin B6 ?

Or wait, does low serotonin means higher dopamine ? Is that what I'm missing here ?

BCAA taken alone deplete both tyrosine/phenyalanine and tryptophan, leading to lower levels of both dopamine and serotonin. I never said take just BCAA, that's why I am listing them as combos. But if you are eating enough protein then you are ingesting enough tyrosine and/or phenylalanine so you can take just BCAA to help keep tryptophan out of the cells/brain.

 

[onioneyedox]

There might be differences between brands. See this Ltheanine.net , regular l-tehnine may be up to 50% "the wrong kind", d-theanine.

I have just used sun theanine, so can't really tell the difference myself. I read on some nootropics site that basicly around 300mg suntheanine feels like 1000mg regular kind (or so, can't remenber exact numbers).

Doctor's best brand has only riceflour as an additive, I haven't found it in bulk.

 

[mamaherrera]

can you overdose on this?? I want to try really bad! What's a good starting dose??

 

[Peata]

I took 500 - 1,200 mg. daily for a while last August. Sometimes just 200 mg. per day. I think I just dosed it on how I felt and what I'd be doing. I recently found what I had leftover from Liftmode and plan to start taking it again, starting out at about 200 mg., and take it along with caffeine.

 

[mamaherrera]

do you have to take it with caffeine?? I don't really want to take it with caffeine.

 

[Peata]

do you have to take it with caffeine??

No

 

[mamaherrera]

Thanks!

 

[haidut]

can you overdose on this?? I want to try really bad! What's a good starting dose??

Theanine is considered GRAS (generally regarded as safe) and has no known toxicity level. Animals given extremely high doses did not have even a single death case. I personally take 600mg and for me the anti-serotonin effect is very pronounced. The reason I take 600mg is that it is almost as effective as 1,200mg listed in the study and theanine is not cheap, so achieving similar results with less is certainly appreciated.

 

[Spokey]

I've used L-Theanine for stress in the past. It was superb.

 

[honeybee]

Don't the effects of l-theanine wear off? Has anyone been taking it for extended time frames?

 

[Spokey]

I think so. At least when I stopped using it, things went back to normal pretty quickly. Actually now I think of it of course it's fine. It's in tea and people have drunk that for ages.

 

[katiekeen]

Haidut, you mentioned that you measure your serotonin at home (saliva test?) Is it possible to buy this test somewhere? Thanks

 

[haidut]

Haidut, you mentioned that you measure your serotonin at home (saliva test?) Is it possible to buy this test somewhere? Thanks

There are many test kits on the market. This is one vendor (which I don't endorse btw):
http://www.accesalabs.com/neurotransmitter

I got my doctor to write me a prescription for it, but if you search around I think Amazon carriers other tests and there are other vendors as well.

 

[lexis]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9614715

Following the administration of theanine, the brain tryptophan content significantly increased or tended to increase, but the contents of serotonin and 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid (5HIAA) decreased. The use of inhibitors of serotonin metabolism enable us to speculate that theanine reduced serotonin synthesis and also increased serotonin degradation in the brain.