Romantic stress relief with 5-HTP

Posted on Mon, 16 Jan 12

Romantic stress and unreciprocated love is one of the most overwhelming stress driven emotional states and is linked to depression, anxiety, and obsession. A small clinical trial suggests that the natural supplement L-5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) may help relieve romantic stress.

A total of 15 healthy subjects (11 females and 4 males, mean age: 23.3 years) who experienced a recent romantic break-up or reported recent romantic problems took part in the study. The participants were treated for 6 weeks with 5HTP (60 mg Griffonia simplicifolia extract containing 12.8 mg 5-HTP) twice daily.

Significant improvements in romantic stress scores were noted from weeks 0 to 3, with no further improvement from weeks 3 to 6. At 6 weeks, subjects had a significant increase from baseline in both brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and serotonin levels.

5-HTP is known to increase serotonin, the “feel good” neurotransmitter, which may in part explain the observed beneficial effects.

While this is a very small exploratory study the results do suggest that 5-HTP could be used to help overcome high levels of romantic stress.

Reference:

Emanuele E, Bertona M, Minoretti P, Geroldi D. An open-label trial of L-5-hydroxytryptophan in subjects with romantic stress. Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2010;31(5):663-6.