ANY good fiber – Psyllium Husks, Corn Bran, Rice Bran, Wheat Bran – would also reduce cholesterol about 10% if taken in similar amounts. Alas, the only voice heard was that of the media which had turned a normal, healthy natural food into a miracle cure. I wonder why it is that we are so gullible to accept what we read in papers and see on TV. As with other natural fads, Oat Bran sales skyrocketed for awhile only to return to its pre-hype days, moving aside to make way for the next big wave. RISE AND FALL OF TRYPTOPHAN The next big hit was L-Tryptophan, which gradually climbed to the top sales spot without any crazy media hype. NOW introduced L-Tryptophan capsules in 1986 and followed up with new 500 mg & 1000 mg tablets in 1987 due to strong demand. By 1988, singular amino acids had steadily grown to be widely used and L-Tryptophan grew the most because people could feel its impact quickly. Primarily used for insomnia and PMS, Tryptophan was safely used by 10 to 15 million Americans daily since 1972. L-Tryptophan is a natural amino acid found in all protein and is considered “essential” in that it cannot be synthesized in the body and must be obtained from food or supplements. The ‘L’ form is the natural form, compared to the ‘DL’ form, which is not found in protein or nature. A large glass of milk or a turkey dinner contains about 500 mg Tryptophan and this is the reason why people get sleepy after a large Thanksgiving dinner. It’s natural, of course, and Tryptophan is ingested as part of every food containing protein. Because Tryptophan is difficult and expensive to extract from protein sources, several Japanese pharmaceutical manufacturers began synthesizing it using a proprietary fermentation process. Elwood Richard had investigated the process used to make Tryptophan prior to NOW selling the product, but was unable to obtain specific details as these were carefully guarded “trade secrets.” Since Tryptophan was sold in the natural ‘L’ form, is an essential amino acid, and had been safely sold for years, NOW began offering Tryptophan to consumers wanting a better value for a product that worked. Within only three years time, Tryptophan sales peaked at 30% of NOW’s total sales and had, effectively, replaced the loss of MaxEPA. But at, oh, what a cost. By the fall of 1989 a mysterious blood disorder spread across the nation and the common denominator turned out to be L-Tryptophan. By 1989, six Japanese manufacturers were producing Tryptophan, one starting as late as 1983. That company, Showa Denko, became the largest US supplier thanks to a new, state- of-the-art production method called genetic engineering. That errant process, plus a change in the carbon filters, produced a contaminated product that seemed to cause Eosinophilia myalgia syndrome – EMS – a mysterious affliction causing severe muscle pain, high white blood cell counts and, in about 36 cases, death. Thousands of people were afflicted with EMS, and all were traced to the same bad batch of Tryptophan made by Showa Denko. In November 1989, the Food and Drug Administration issued a rare recall of all Tryptophan products until the exact causes were known. Though the real reason became public less than three months later, the FDA continued to blame the amino acid ‘Tryptophan’, instead of the isolated, contaminated product made by Showa Denko, Safe Tryptophan was withheld from the marketplace indefinitely. Beyond the human losses innocently involved in this travesty, two serious issues arose. Most importantly, does genetic engineering unnaturally change foods and supplements to 54 BEATING THE ODDS
