MystiFACT-or-FICTION Response #1 - Oxytocin + Phenethylamine: Love or Hate

Phenethylamine: The Gatekeeper of "Love"

What is Phenethylamine?

Phenethylamine also known as  β-phenylethylamine (β-PEA) is a neuropeptide that modulates dopamine and norepinephrine reuptake allowing them to accumulate. It is generally lacking in cases of Depression and Anxiety.

How can I increase my phenethylamine?

Cacáo, Bananas, Cheeses, and more may give a transient increase in phenethylamine. Here's looking at you dark chocholate, and pizza. Many presume the trace amounts of phenethylamine in cacáo and dark chocholate are rapidly metabolized in the body by mao-b, however, tyramine is preferentially degraded and in appreciable quantities could allow for the transient increase in phenethylamine.

Eat chocholate = love!?!  If only it were so simple as people would have you believe. 

So when is phenethylamine produced?

Phenethylamine is produced from the amino acid Phenylalanine when the body has an abundance of energy reserve capacity.

 Phenylalanine is an amino acid found in high concentrations in meat, dairy, fish, poultry, eggs, beans, and nuts. (Especially high in catflish and lamb posted below incase you've forgotten what they look like.)

Without the proper nutrient reserves, You may not feel very loved.  Even though if you are reading this, you most certainly are <3

So where does oxytocin fit into all of this?

While oxytocin increases dopamine flux, and is commonly referred to as the love hormone, classification as such ignores its role in fear conditioning. Even a gentle touch can light up areas of the brain associated with pain. If it can be called the love hormone it should only be fair to call it the hate hormone as well.  A stressor cue for learning and reaction. Because of this I believe Oxytocin is best classified as the association hormone. 

Oxytocin is released by the galvanic skin response(touch) and also increases in sodium. Oxytocin may be released by a gentle caress though your preference towards that stimuli would heavily rely on phenethylamines presense. It is both phenethylamine and oxytocin which sing the sweet song of bonding love. Without phenethylamine, you'd associate less towards a certain  stimuli and less oxytocin would be released during the next instance of that same stimuli. To recondition that stimuli as meh and increasingly unfavorable as it continues in the absense of phenethylamine. The gatekeeper of love and passion.

      DrAbs cuts through the science like a knife. Revealing the unknown

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Have you and I met before? Certainly we've seen eye to eye? Or you're anglering at my computer files! Though if you say I must play in this charade matrix of intellectual property. WEEE!  #mystifact