It kind of makes you wonder about Melatonin, doesn't it? It's the
L-tryptophan of the mid 1990s.
Danny wrote:
>> FYI:
> My brother has been hospitalized on and off for the past 6 years due to
> physical and mental (neuro-cognitive) disorders stemming from contaminated
> Tryptophan he was taking in '89. He developed the EMS syndrom which was a
> result of the "Peak E" manufacturing process employed by Showa Denka of
> Japan which did not include filtration to assure product purity. I am
> currently researching every bit of info I can find on the Net (he's been
> researching library material at Stony Brook University, N.Y., where most
> of the research and tests are being performed). To date, no effective
> treatment has been defined. It has also been researched that a metabolite
> of Tryptophan may be responsible for additional neuropyschological
> disorders. If anyone has any additonal pertinent info please email me.
>> Take care,
>dannym at i-2000.com>> P.S. Here's some interesting info I've found:
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------------------------------------
>http://www.irsociety.com/recent/tranbarr.html> INTERNET ROUNDTABLE SOCIETY'S INTERVIEW WITH DR. STEPHEN BARRETT
>> February 1, 1995
>> Pursglove: Now our conversation has certainly focused on vitamins. Explain
> if you will, some of the larger or greater areas of the so-called health
> food industry that has drawn your attention during your research.
>> Dr. Barrett: There are hundreds of products promoted with false claims. It
> seems there's a new one almost every month. We call it the supplement of
> the month club. Probably the most disasterous promotion or I should say,
> certainly the most disasterous promotion in modern time was the promotion
> of l-tryptophan, an amino acid. This was promoted in the U.S. starting in
> the late 1970's as an aid for sleeping, weight reduction, pain, and a few
> other things. These claims were not only unproven but were illegal when
> used in the process of selling the product. At least 26 manufacturers in
> the U.S. made illegal claims for l-tryptophan. In 1989, people began
> getting very, very ill with what had been a rare disease in which they had
> muscle pain, weakness, and other severe symptoms. The illness, which
> eventually involved more than 5,000 people, was traced to an impurity in
> the l-tryptophan manufactured by a Japanese company, that supplied most of
> it used in the pills distributed by manufacturers in the U.S. In "The
> Vitamin Pushers" we describe how the company discovered there was an
> impurity in the product but chose to let it remain, even though it didn't
> know what it was. The reason they let it stay was that increasing
> filtration would reduce the amount they could produce and the demand. That
> is, the sales were so high that they didn't want to reduce production. As
> a result, the product with its unknown and potentially unsafe ingredient
> was provided to manufacturers in the U.S. More than 28 people died. More
> than 25,000 were ill. Many did not recover. It was a devastating thing.
> The fact of the matter is it had not been proven scientifically effective,
> but it was widely promoted by the health food industry.
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------------------------------------
>http://www.social.com/health/ific/adult_nutr/fda-bds.html> FDA Backgrounder
>> Printed June 15, 1993
>> L-tryptophan
>> In late 1989, adverse effects associated with L-trytophan, an amino acid,
> heightened FDA's concerns about the safety of these supplements. People
> were using L-tryptophan (listed for only limited use as a food additive)
> for problems such as sleep difficulties, depression, and premenstrual
> syndrome.
>> FDA requested a recall of L-tryptophan after published reports associated
> ingestion of the substance with eosinophilia-mylagia syndrome (EMS), a
> connective tissue disease characterized by often debilitating muscle pain
> and skin and neuromuscular effects. More than 1,500 cases, including 38
> Prevention's description of EMS symptoms; the true incidence is thought to
> be much higher.
>> Because of safety issues associated with consumption of this amino acid,
> FDA in 1990 contracted with the Federation of American Societies for
> Experimental Biology (FASEB) to review the scientific literature on amino
> acid supplements and to provide data on the level of safety concern that
> these products present.
>> FASEB reported in September 1992 that safety data were inadequate to
> determine safe upper levels of use for amino acids, and that consumers --
> especially children, women of childbearing age, and older people -- should
> not take amino acid supplements without responsible medical supervision.
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------------------------------------
> END
