Another thing these techniques could be used for is increasing dopamine production, while lowering serotonin. Obviously, gelatin has no tryptophan (or very tiny amounts), but still has both tyrosine and phenylalanine, both precursors to dopamine. It also has lower levels of the BCAAs.
The BCAAs are interesting, as they are beneficial amino acids in general. Brad Marshall discussed some studies showing that BCAAs are elevated in the blood in obesity, and restricting just the BCAAs can improve obesity, and other metabolic conditions like diabetes.
On the flip side, Haidut posted some studies showing that BCAA supplementation can block tryptophan from entering the brain, and thus lowering serotonin. People had mixed results with this, as some started to get bad moods and depression type symptoms. Probably because BCAAs can also block phenylalanine and tyrosine. All six of those amino acids (BCAAs, phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan) are Large Neutral Amino Acids. One study proposed administering BCAAs and Tyrosine, to block serotonin synthesis while promoting dopamine.
Although, there is another strategy. You could also lower the BCAAs and tryptophan, while keeping tyrosine and phenylalanine at higher levels. This would also promote dopamine synthesis, while reducing serotonin synthesis. This would probably be a more effective strategy when BCAAs are already elevated in the blood, as appears to be the case in obesity. This would suggest that a gelatin and tyrosine mixture could be very effective at increasing the dopamine to serotonin ratio.
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