Serotonin-rich foods don’t boost serotonin, but a special serotonin diet and some specific foods can elevate mood and help treat disorders like depression.
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that’s been called the “happy molecule” for the important role it plays in maintaining a positive mood. (1)
It’s believed that low serotonin levels are responsible for the current epidemic of depression.
Prescription drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) help alleviate depression by increasing brain levels of serotonin.
But they can have serious side effects and don’t work for almost half of those who try them. (2)
Consequently, many people with depression are searching for ways to increase serotonin levels naturally.
One seemingly simple solution would be to eat foods high in serotonin.
But it turns out the answer is not that simple.
Serotonin-Rich Foods Don’t Raise Serotonin Levels
You may have heard you should eat bananas to raise serotonin levels because they contain serotonin.
Or that you should eat turkey because it contains tryptophan, a serotonin precursor.
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While these tips sound good, they are myths with no basis in reality.
There are very few natural serotonin food sources. (3)
The list of serotonin-rich foods is a short one:
- walnuts
- hickory nuts
- pineapple
- bananas
- kiwis
- plums
- tomatoes
The serotonin in food does not cross the blood-brain barrier, your brain’s security system for keeping out foreign substances.
So the serotonin found in food does not get into your brain and will not boost your mood. (4)
Related articles on Be Brain Fit —
Serotonin Deficiency: Signs, Symptoms, SolutionsHow Tryptophan Supports Serotonin Levels for Good Mental Health
Serotonin Foods and Tryptophan
Most “serotonin foods” lists are actually lists of foods that contain tryptophan, an amino acid that’s a precursor of serotonin. (5)
Most foods that are good sources of protein are also good sources of tryptophan.
The top tryptophan foods include: (6, 7)
- eggs
- fish
- seafood of all kinds
- cheese
- meat of all kinds
- poultry of all kinds
- seeds
- nuts
- soy
- oats
- chickpeas
- bananas
- beets
But eating tryptophan doesn’t guarantee it will get into your brain or turn into serotonin any more than eating serotonin-rich foods does!
Here’s why …
The Serotonin Diet Solution
If you want to increase serotonin, you need to eat protein for its tryptophan — a critical building block for synthesizing brain serotonin. (8)
Yet paradoxically, protein blocks serotonin formation.
Levels of both tryptophan and serotonin drop after eating a meal that contains protein! (9)
Even a small amount of protein eaten with carbohydrates inhibits serotonin formation. (10)
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If ingesting neither serotonin nor tryptophan-containing foods increases serotonin, what does?
During her research at MIT, Dr. Judith J. Wurtman, co-author of The Serotonin Power Diet
They do it because it raises their brain serotonin levels, thus making them feel happier.
She also discovered the key to synthesizing serotonin with food.
While there aren’t serotonin foods per se, there is a way to eat strategically to get tryptophan into your brain to boost serotonin levels.
It’s not just what you eat, but how you eat it.
Until this discovery, the relationship between tryptophan, serotonin and food had been a puzzle.
But the solution turned out to be surprisingly simple.
Related articles on Be Brain Fit —
15 Serotonin Supplements to Boost Mood NaturallyNatural Antidepressants: 14 Proven Ways to Beat Depression Without Drugs
Increase Serotonin with Strategic Carbohydrate Consumption
Dr. Wurtman found that occasionally eating carbohydrates on their own — with no protein — avoided the problem of protein blocking serotonin synthesis.
So the answer to the dilemma of increasing serotonin with food is to eat more carbohydrates, and to eat them on their own.
This is a bit of a shock when you consider how often we’ve been told that carbohydrates are bad for us and make us fat and unhealthy.
Commercial diet plans like Atkins and South Beach and diet movements like paleo and gluten-free have drummed into our heads that carbohydrates should be eaten in extreme moderation.
They’ve promised that low-carb is the way to go to be lean and healthy and avoid diseases like diabetes, obesity, and Alzheimer’s.
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Diets like “The Zone” contend that when you do eat carbs they should always be eaten with both fat and protein.
Is it possible that all this low-carb eating has contributed to depression and other mood disorders in susceptible people?
A Typical Day on a Serotonin Diet
Another serotonin diet book based on strategic carbohydrate eating is Carol Hart’s Secrets of Serotonin: The Natural Hormone That Curbs Food and Alcohol Cravings, Reduces Pain, and Elevates Your Mood
A typical day following her plan would look something like this:
BREAKFAST: toast with fruit spread, hot cereal with raisins, or fruit salad
LUNCH: large green salad, vegetable soup, vegetarian stir fry or or grilled vegetables
SNACKS: fresh or dried fruit, pita bread or raw vegetables with hummus, tortilla chips with salsa, or popcorn
DINNER: protein source of choice, vegetables, and rice, pasta, potatoes, or sweet potatoes
While simple carbohydrates like sugar and white flour boost serotonin and mood the fastest, the effect lasts only an hour or two. (11)
While both of these serotonin diet plans give you the green light to eat foods like bagels, crackers, and biscotti, they do not give you free reign to indulge in all the carbs you want.
While we don’t consider refined wheat to be a healthy brain food, there’s little harm in giving the serotonin diet a try to see if it gives you the mood lift you’re hoping for.
However, we recommend that you follow serotonin diet principles while avoiding wheat and refined carbohydrates by emphasizing brain-healthy carbohydrates like potatoes, root vegetables, fruit, and non-wheat grains like rice and oatmeal.
Eating Carbs — Without the Guilt
If you’ve been following a low-carb diet, I can almost feel your guilt about selectively eating carbohydrates.
You may be worried that adding so many carbs back into your diet will make you gain weight or set off carb cravings.
In fact, you may find the opposite to be true.
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I suggest you read the Amazon comments for both of the serotonin diet books mentioned above.
Commenters claim that strategically eating carbs not only improves their mood, but often helps them lose weight and reduce cravings.
It’s not a coincidence that people binge on carbohydrates when they want to lift their mood.
Overeating carbs is a way of self-medicating to raise serotonin levels. (12)
Related articles on Be Brain Fit —
The Best Tips for Controlling Carb Cravings
Five Foods That Increase Serotonin Naturally
There are a handful of foods that work by a variety of mechanisms to increase serotonin naturally.
Turmeric
The spice turmeric contains the active ingredient curcumin which readily crosses the blood-brain barrier and increases levels of both serotonin and dopamine. (13)
Curcumin supplements have proven to be as effective as Prozac for depression. (14)
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Dark Chocolate
Dark chocolate, always a popular brain booster, increases serotonin levels in both the brain and the digestive tract. (15)
Surprisingly, 95% of serotonin resides in the gut, not the brain! (16)
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✓Cacao Nibs See Amazon.com for best selection and value
A healthy alternative to chocolate candy bars are cacao nibs which contain all the mood-boosting compounds found in chocolate, minus the sugar.
They are significantly less processed as well.
Related articles on Be Brain Fit —
9 Brain Boosting Benefits of Dark Chocolate
Green Tea
Green tea contains l-theanine, an amino acid that increases levels of serotonin, dopamine, and GABA. (17)
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Cold-Water Fatty Fish
People with low serotonin levels commonly have low levels of DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid that is an essential structural building block of the brain.
Eating cold-water fatty fish like salmon that’s high in omega-3 fatty acids can help raise serotonin levels. (18)
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Fermented Foods
Fermented foods like yogurt, kefir and unpasteurized sauerkraut naturally contain probiotics that help establish a normal balance between good and bad bacteria in your intestines.
An overabundance of bad bacteria creates toxic byproducts called lipopolysaccharides which have numerous negative effects on your brain including lowering serotonin levels and causing depression. (19, 20, 21)
Stress, sugar, artificial sweeteners, prescription medications, chlorinated tap water, parasites, inflammation, and even antibacterial hand soap can disrupt your intestinal flora. (22, 23, 24 25)
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Is Your Favorite Beverage Lowering Your Serotonin Level?
Your favorite beverages could be decreasing your serotonin levels.
Most people drink alcohol to feel happy, but it decreases serotonin. (26)
The artificial sweetener aspartame found in diet drinks reduces serotonin levels by inhibiting the brain’s uptake and conversion of tryptophan. (27)
Caffeine is found in many of the most popular beverages — coffee, tea, energy drinks, and various kinds of sodas.
The relationship between caffeine and serotonin is complex, but there’s evidence that when consumed over time, caffeine eventually leads to brain cells becoming desensitized to serotonin or to serotonin suppression. (28, 29)
How to Increase Serotonin with Food: The Bottom Line
Eating serotonin-rich foods or foods high in tryptophan does not raise serotonin levels in the brain.
To increase serotonin levels with your diet, try this approach:
- Strategically eat carbohydrates alone without any protein source some of the time. (We’ve given you a typical day of a serotonin diet plan to get you started.)
- Incorporate serotonin boosting foods like green tea, dark chocolate, turmeric, cold-water fatty fish, and fermented foods into your diet.
- Avoid serotonin inhibitors like diet soda, alcohol, and caffeine.
If you suspect you have a serotonin deficiency, this should be the way to improve your mood with food.
