Ok…i know that a cooked turkey contains a like 300 mg of sedatives, or something along those lines. My question is, why do turkeys require, or contain this sedative within their body, is it neccesary for the everydau function of the organism, or is it just a trivial chemical extract?
The compound you’re referring to, I believe, is tryptophan which is an amino acid commonly occuring in muscle protein such as turkey meat. Tryptophan is released by tryptic enzyme digestion and is a precursor to serotonin. I don’t think it does a whole lot for the turkey though.
It does plenty for the turkey! That amino acid holds his muscles together. If it were gone, the actin and myosin fibers would come apart like a cheap suit!
To clarify: I don’t think tryptophan, as incorporated into the turkey’s muscle fiber has much of a sedative effect on said bird.
All I know is that I’d need a lot of tranquilizers to prevent me from coming to the horrid realization that IRL is was actually a turkey.
[sub](Instead of just being called one.)[/sub]