# Jive Turkey

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jive-turkey/42482>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 23, 2000, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jive-turkey/42482 "2000-11-23T23:35:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![HalberMensch242](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecb155/32.png) [@HalberMensch242](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HalberMensch242)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2000, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jive-turkey/42482/1 "2000-11-23T23:35:59Z")

</div>

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?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2000, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jive-turkey/42482/2 "2000-11-24T00:18:32Z")

</div>

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.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2000, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jive-turkey/42482/3 "2000-11-24T03:30:55Z")

</div>

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!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2000, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jive-turkey/42482/4 "2000-11-24T04:01:42Z")

</div>

To clarify: I don’t think tryptophan, as incorporated into the turkey’s muscle fiber has much of a sedative effect on said bird.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2000, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jive-turkey/42482/5 "2000-11-24T09:21:58Z")

</div>

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]