5-HTP Reviews

We looked at thousands of 5-HTP reviews to find out:

Does 5-HTP work?
What is the best 5-HTP brand?

Does 5-HTP Work?

After looking at thousands of 5-htp user reviews, we concluded that 5-HTP works extremely well for a particular type of depression, anxiety and insomnia – serotonin deficiency. However, for people whose depression, anxiety, insomnia or other symptoms are not caused by serotonin deficiency, it doesn’t work at all.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter (brain chemical) commonly involved in depression, anxiety and insomnia.The brain produces its own serotonin by converting tryptophan (an amino acid that we get from food) into 5-HTP then converting 5-HTP into serotonin. 5-HTP boosts serotonin levels naturally by giving the brain more of the raw materials it needs for serotonin production.

Symptoms of serotonin deficiency can include:

Depression – the kind where negative thoughts go round and round in your head endlessly and you always see the negative side of any situation
Anxiety, panic attacks, shyness or phobias
Low self confidence
A tendency to obsessive thinking and behavior – this can range from perfectionism to more severe obsessive compulsive disorders
Irritability
Insomnia
PMS
Cravings for sweets or high carb foods like bread and pasta
Depression that’s worse in winter
Muscle aches, fibromyalgia or jaw pain
Feeling better after exercise
Feeling better after taking SSRIs (the type of antidepressant that works on serotonin)

If this sounds like you, there is a very good chance 5-HTP will work for you. If it doesn't, take these 13 depression tests to find the underlying cause of your depression and find out which natural remedies will work
best for you.

Reviews on the Effectiveness of 5-HTP

Most of the reviews about 5-HTP either rave about it or say it didn’t work at all, with very little in between. This tends to confirm that 5-HTP works extremely well when the underlying problem is serotonin deficiency, but doesn’t work at all for other causes of depression or anxiety.

146 reviewers on webmd.com gave 5-HTP an average rating of 4.23 out of 5.

Condition	Rating (Effectiveness)
All reviews	(4.23 stars, 146 reviews)
Depression	(4.31 stars, 49 reviews)
Anxiety	(4.09 stars, 32 reviews)
Weight loss	(4.56 stars, 9 reviews)
Other (mostly insomnia)	(3.78 stars, 27 reviews)

There were 502 reviews on dailystrength.com with 68% of people finding 5-HTP helpful. The majority of these were fibromyalgia sufferers but their reviews talk about 5-htp helping with their depression and not with their fibromyalgia. revolutionhealth.com had 386 reviews with an average rating of 6.1 out of 10.

Here are some typical positive 5-HTP reviews from Iherb:

Some positive 5-HTP reviews

And a typical negative review:

A negative opinion

The Best Brand of 5-HTP

We looked at thousands of reviews for different brands of 5-HTP. The best rated brand was Jarrow Formulas 5-HTP, with an average rating of 4.55 out of 5 from 149 reviews. A lot of people said they had tried other 5-HTP brands and thought Jarrow was the best 5-HTP brand.

Jarrow 5-HTP – Save 39%

Jarrow was followed closely by the Now Foods brand with an average rating of 4.48 and Natrol timed release 5-HTP with an average rating of 4.44.

If you’re not sure what dosage to take, have a look at our 5-HTP dosage guidelines

What Else do the Reviewers Say?

Some of the things we read over and over in different reviews are:

5-HTP is most commonly reported to help with depression, anxiety, social anxiety, stress
and insomnia. A smaller number of reviewers say it helps with headaches, migraines and weight loss.
A lot of reviewers say their depression, anxiety or insomnia is completely gone when they take 5-HTP. Other reviewers report significant improvements in their symptoms.
A lot of people use words like 'amazing' and 'miracle' in their reviews.
Some reviewers say 5-HTP didn’t work for them at all.
A number of people say that antidepressants didn’t work for them but 5-HTP did.
5-HTP is commonly reported to improve ability to fall asleep, stay asleep and sleep deeply.
A lot of people felt much better right away or overnight. A smaller number of people said it took a week or two to start noticing the effects.
Quite a few people take a Vitamin B complex in the morning to increase the effect of the 5-HTP. Vitamin B6 is required for the conversion of 5-HTP to serotonin and the B complex will help
you get the best results from 5-HTP by making sure you can use it effectively.
A few people mentioned side effects like headaches and increased aggression if they take too much 5-HTP.
One person mentioned they can’t drink alcohol while on 5-HTP or they feel depressed and anxious the next day.
A lot of people say they have very vivid dreams when they take 5-HTP