April 23, 2003

• I found a magazine called The Ecologist. The cover layout looks like a sort of ecological parody of The Economist, which is what initially attracted me to it. It turns out to be a pretty decent read, however. More science and economy, less granola. Rawk. It comes from the UK.
  
  The other thing about the cover is that it has a picture of a gun pointed at you with big type over: EAT SHIT OR DIE: America gives Africa a choice. The article is about genetically-modified (GM) foods being dumped on the African market. I had to admire the chutzpa of putting the ‘s’ word on the cover, and drawing the connection between the ‘s’ word and GM food.
  
  It also contains an interview with the UK Environment Minister Michael Meacher, who says things like ‘When I first came into politics, Labour was a party which was at best sceptical and at worst openly hostile to business. It has now gone right the other way,’ and is critical of growth-oriented globalism.
  
  Wait… Politicians can say these kinds of things in some countries?
  
  The other thing I want to mention about this magazine is that it had an article about recent studies comparing nutrition to pharmaceuticals in treating mental disorders. The cited studies show that nutritional supplement can go really really far toward replacing many psychoactives like SSRIs. The article brings up really interesting questions, like: Is the current rise in depression and anxiety diagnoses related more to poor nutrition than anything else?
  
  This inspired me to do some research over the last couple days. I ended up taking 50mg of 5-HTP just after waking today, and… Dayum. It’s the after-thanksgiving-turkey feeling all day long, because it’s tryptophan. This is, for me, a Big Deal. $6.99/30count at the health food store.
  
  I think I’m going to stagger taking it, one day on, two off, until I get a clearer picture of what the effect really is. I’ve already been taking a B-complex and fish oil daily.
  
  Tryptophan has an interesting story, too, because it’s not over-the-counter. 5-HTP is, but tryptophan isn’t. The reason? One bad shipment from Japan to the US, right after the Japanese company had changed their manufacturing process. That was enough for the FDA to invoke prescription-only status, and that’s how it remains now.

  • 7:15 am
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