Amino Acids: Could They be a Miracle Cure for Food Addictions?

I attended the Pediatric Obesity Symposium here in New Braunfels a few weeks ago, and one of the speakers, Dr. Mark Statler, talked about people who can’t stop eating certain foods once they start. For example, most of us can eat a half cup of ice cream or a handful of M&Ms and stop. Some people, once they have that first bite, will continued to eat until the whole container of ice cream or the whole bag of M&Ms is gone. He indicated that the culprit may be the nucleus accumbens, that part of the brain that has a great deal to do with addictive behaviors, like alcoholics have. Alcoholics can’t stop with one or two drinks; many of them drink until they pass out, which may also be an issue with this same part of the brain. Dr. Statler went on to say that there are two neurotransmitters at play in this area of the brain: dopamine and glutamate. When either of these is out of balance, which is often the case with addictions, the body attempts to re-balance by craving those particular ingestibles that will affect this area. However, it is a catch-22 situation, in that by ingesting the foods that “calm” this area, the calmness is short lived, just like alcohol, and the cravings return as soon as the surge in the neurotransmitter begins to fade.

A number of years ago, I experienced alcohol cravings, so I decided to do a little research. I found a website that purported the use of L-glutamine and L-phenylalanine, two common amino acids, to curb the cravings. These amino acids are safe, over-the-counter, inexpensive supplements, so I thought I give them a try. Yes, they worked very well. Not only did the alcohol cravings disappear, but so did my other favorite craving: tortilla chips.

I stopped Dr. Statler on his way out the door, and asked him if he knew of any research on the use of these two amino acids to help obese patients to curb their out of control cravings and subsequently help to balance the nucleus accumbens. He said no, and he seemed surprised by the question. I didn’t tell him about my experience with these supplements, as he was in a hurry, but I hope he gives my question some thought.

How much did I take? I took a total of 3000mgs of L-glutamine and 1500 mgs of L-phenylalanine per day, along with vitamin B-6, but I broke the amino acids into three servings per day. I never realized that my nucleus accumbens was most likely out of balance and that simple and inexpensive amino acids could stop the cravings long enough for me to re-program my beliefs and behaviors around alcohol and certain foods. Periodically, I will resume my regime of these amino acids, especially when I am experiencing stress. High stress will sometimes cause me to revert to old coping mechanisms, like using food for comfort rather than nutrition. It seems too easy, taking inexpensive amino acids, and it really is, but I strongly suspect that very little will be said about these supplements to help with the obesity problem, mostly because, you guessed it, there’s no big money to be made. And that makes me sad.