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Warm Milk?

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  • 15-04-2009 10:33pm
    #1
    **Timbuk2**
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 7,395 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    It is often said that warm milk induces sleepiness. It isn't a myth, according to the Mayo Clinic

    If your mother used to give you a cup of warm milk before sending you off to bed, she had the right idea. Dairy foods are a good source of tryptophan, an amino acid that your body converts to melatonin and serotonin — both of which are thought to induce sleep.

    But my question is - why does it have to be warm milk? Surely if the milk was chilled, it would still be a good source of tryptophan.

    Thanks for the help in advance,
    Tim.

    PS Sorry if this is the wrong forum, but it seemed the most appropriate place


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    #2
    Black Swan
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 47,223 CMod ✭✭✭✭Black Swan


    The debate continues regarding warm milk by itself from a physiological standpoint?
    Few foods have a reputation for curing insomnia quite like warm milk.

    According to age-old wisdom, milk is chock full of tryptophan, the sleep-inducing amino acid that is also well known for its presence in another food thought to have sedative effects, turkey.

    But whether milk can induce sleep is debatable, and studies suggest that if it does, the effect has little to do with tryptophan.

    To have any soporific effect, tryptophan has to cross the blood-brain barrier. And in the presence of other amino acids, it ends up fighting — largely unsuccessfully — to move across.

    One study by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology demonstrated this in 2003. The study, which was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showed that eating protein-rich foods — like milk — decreased the ability of tryptophan to enter the brain.

    The trick, the study showed, is to eat foods high in carbohydrates, which stimulate the release of insulin. Insulin, in turn, makes it easier for tryptophan to enter the brain.

    But surveys have found that many people swear by milk as a sleep aid, and that may have something to do with psychology.

    Scientists say the routine of drinking a glass of milk before bed can be as soothing as a favorite old blanket.

    Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/health/04real.html?_r=4&ex=1190088000&en=0b4a9d49dc75fb0b&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

    Warm does not appear to be a factor, unless linked to psychology?


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    #3
    Faith
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,655 Mod ✭✭✭✭Faith


    Cold milk is a shock to the system, causing you to become more alert. Warm milk is soothing and calming, and won't cause your body to react to the temperature. That's all.


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