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The immense popularity of the use of Prozac in recent years as an almost-
side-effect-free anti-depressant has brought renewed attention to the role
of serotonin in mood regulation.  When starting a GF diet almost a month
ago, I wondered if my compensating for the loss of wheat products in my diet
through the addition of protein rich foods such as yogurt and cheese would
tax my serotonin balance with adverse effects on mood and/or sleep pattern.

The Medline cite below suggests that for celiac children, they have abnormal
serotonin metabolism to begin with and going gf improves mood immediately
due to an improved serotonin balance.

MEDLINE(R)|
CZ- (c) format only 1995 Knight-Ridder Info. All rts. reserv.|
AN- 06530731|
AN- <NLM> 88175731|
TI- Are the changes of mood in children with coeliac disease due to
    abnormal serotonin metabolism?|
AU- Challacombe DN; Wheeler EE|
CS- Somerset Children's Research Unit, Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton,
    Somerset.|
JN- Nutr Health; 5 (3-4) p145-52|
CP- ENGLAND|
PY- 1987|
SN- 0260-1060|
JC- OBI|
LA- ENGLISH|
DT- JOURNAL ARTICLE; REVIEW; REVIEW, TUTORIAL|
JA- 8807|
SF- INDEX MEDICUS|
AB- Children with untreated coeliac disease are characteristically unhappy
    and after a few days of treatment with a gluten-free diet their mood
    improves. This improvement in mood can be rapidly reversed by
    introducing gluten into their diet again which suggests that a humoral
    agent could be involved in this process. As serotonin is a
    neurotransmitter in the brain and abnormalities of serotonin metabolism
    have been reported in coeliac disease, this biogenic amine could be the
    humoral agent that mediates the changes of mood in coeliac disease. In
    this review the relationship between the mood changes in coeliac
    disease and serotonin metabolism will be further examined.|
RF- 41|
GS- Human|
DE- *Affective Disorders --Etiology --ET;  *Celiac
    Disease --Metabolism --ME;  *Serotonin --Metabolism --ME;
    Brain --Metabolism --ME;  Celiac Disease --Complications --CO;   Celiac
    Disease --Diet Therapy --DH;  Child;  Gluten --Adverse Effects --AE|
RN- 50-67-9   (Serotonin); 8002-80-0   (Gluten)|

John Fernstrom writes in an article called the Effect of Dietary
macronutrients on brain serotonin formation (in a 1994 book by Fernstrom and
Miller) that " meals of different carbohydrate and protein contents produce
systematic, rapid alterations in brain TRP[tryptophan] levels and 5HT
[serotonin] synthesis."

Robert Haas in his 1994 book, Eat smart, think smart,  advises protein rich
foods such as meat, poultry, seafood, beans, tofu, and lentils to provide
nutritional stimulus to the brain.  They are a source of L-tyrosine which
"the brain uses to synthesize the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and
dopamine, both of which are critical to to lucid, swift thinking, long-term
memory, and feelings of alertness and stability. "

L-Trpytophan, which stimulates serotonin production, Haas writes "is found
in such foods as bananas, sunflower seeds, and milk (and whose effects are
augmented when consumed with carbohydrate-rich foods) behaves as a mental
downer."  Consequently,   Haas recommends that insomiacs eat carbohydrate
rich evening meals and try banana milkshakes as a snack an hour or so before
bedtime.    (I would caution that Haas is a diet adviser  for Hollywood
types and has even co-authored a book with Cher.  However, I discovered the
banana milkshake before bed long before reading about it in Haas.)

Does this mean that we are happiest when our brains are ticking over on only
a few cylinders?  As a runner and cyclist, I'm now "carbo-loading" with rice
rather than pasta, and still love an early morning ride to get those
endorphins flowing.  It's a struggle to maintain adequate body weight though
as most of my snack foods were wheat-based.  Sorry about the several
tangents in this post!!