5-HTP is a compound that is believed to help increase levels of serotonin in your body. This may be beneficial for several conditions, including depression, insomnia, migraines, and more.
5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) is an amino acid that your body naturally produces.
Your body uses it to produce serotonin, a chemical messenger that sends signals between your nerve cells (1).
Low serotonin levels are associated with depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, weight gain, and other health problems (2, 3, 4).
Therefore, increasing your body’s production of serotonin may have various benefits.
It is possible to take 5-HTP supplements – this removes the need for our bodies to create it from tryptophan, which is believed to raise serotonin levels in the body.
You can't get 5-HTP from food. The amino acid tryptophan, which the body uses to make 5-HTP, can be found in turkey, chicken, milk, potatoes, pumpkin, sunflower seeds, turnip and collard greens, and seaweed.
For this reason, serotonin-producing 5-HTP supplements have become increasingly popular.
Here are 5 potential health benefits of 5-HTP, based on science:
1. May promote sleep by increasing melatonin production
5-HTP produces serotonin, which can be converted into the hormone melatonin.
Melatonin plays an important role in regulating sleep. Its levels begin to rise in the evening to promote sleep and fall in the morning to help wake you up (24).
Therefore, supplementing with 5-HTP may promote sleep by increasing melatonin production in your body.
One 2010 study showed that a combination of 5-HTP and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) significantly reduced the time it took to fall asleep, increased sleep duration, and improved sleep quality (25).
GABA is a chemical messenger that promotes relaxation. Combining it with 5-HTP likely has a synergistic effect.
In fact, several animal studies suggest that 5-HTP improves sleep quality and that the effect is greater when combined with GABA.
Another review of treatmentsTrusted Source available for sleep problems found that 5-HTP may be beneficial in treating disorders of arousal, such as sleep terrors and sleepwalking.
2. Could aid weight loss by increasing feelings of fullness
5-HTP may increase feelings of fullness, causing you to eat less and lose weight.
Weight loss can increase the production of hormones that make you feel hungry. These feelings of constant hunger can make losing weight unsustainable in the long term (5, 6).
5-HTP may counteract these hunger-inducing hormones, working to suppress appetite and help you lose weight (7).
In one older study, 20 people with diabetes were randomly assigned to receive either 5-HTP or a placebo for 2 weeks. The results showed that those who received 5-HTP consumed approximately 421 fewer calories per day, compared to the placebo group (8).
What’s more, 5-HTP primarily inhibited the intake of calories from carbohydrates, which was associated with better blood sugar control (8Trusted Source).
Many other studies have also found that 5-HTP increased feelings of fullness and aided weight loss in people with overweight or obesity (9Trusted Source, 10Trusted Source).
3. May help with depression by increasing serotonin levels
While the exact cause of depression is largely unknown, some researchers believe that a serotonin imbalance may influence your mood in a way that leads to depression (2).
However, keep in mind that other studies have turned up conflicting findings on the relationship between low serotonin levels and depression (12).
Still, 5-HTP supplements are thought to treat depression by increasing serotonin levels.
For instance, one study in 15 females found that combining 5-HTP with creatine improved symptoms of depression after 8 weeks (13).
Another small study in people with Parkinson’s disease concluded that 5-HTP could help improve symptoms of depression compared to a placebo (14).
4. Could improve symptoms of fibromyalgia
Supplementing with 5-HTP may improve symptoms of fibromyalgia, a condition characterised by muscle and joint pain, as well as extreme tiredness and brain fog, also known as “fibro fog” (17).
There is currently no known cause of fibromyalgia, but low serotonin levels have been associated with the condition (17).
This has led researchers to believe that increasing serotonin levels may benefit people with fibromyalgia (18).
5. Could help reduce migraine frequency
5-HTP is said to help with migraines, which are throbbing headaches that are often accompanied by nausea or disturbed vision.
While their exact cause is debated, some researchers believe that low serotonin levels may play a role (22).
One older study in 124 people compared the ability of 5-HTP and methysergide, a common migraine medication, to prevent migraines (23).
It found that supplementing with 5-HTP daily for 6 months prevented or significantly decreased the number of migraine attacks in 71% of participants (23).
The bottom line:
Your body converts 5-HTP into serotonin, a substance that regulates appetite, pain sensations, and sleep.
Supplementing with it may help boost your serotonin levels.
Higher serotonin levels may provide many benefits, such as promoting weight loss, improving the symptoms of depression and fibromyalgia, decreasing the frequency of migraine attacks, and helping you sleep better.
Minor side effects have been linked to 5-HTP, but they can be minimized by starting with smaller doses and increasing the dosage gradually.
Given that 5-HTP may negatively interact with several medications, talk to a doctor to ensure it’s safe for you to use.
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