I guess this is just an old wives' tale. If you passed out and took a nap after eating dinner on Thanksgiving you can’t blame the turkey. An expert just punched a hole in that old tryptophan theory.
Dr. Joan Blake of Boston University says, “Folklore has it that the tryptophan-rich turkey is the reason behind the prevalence of snoozers sprawled out in your living room after the leftovers are tucked away […] But if you look a little further into the science (or lack of) behind this folklore, you will soon realize that this tryptophan theory just doesn’t make any physiological sense.”
According to Dr. Blake, lots of other different meats and eggs contain tryptophan, so does soy, yogurt, cheese and milk which many of us eat on a regular basis. So, if it were the tryptophan, we’d be napping after meals all the time.
If you did find yourself dozing off on Thanksgiving, that’s probably because you ate too much and your body is workingovertime to digest all that food. That plus all the cooking and washing up afterwards is enough to make anyone sleepy!
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