Am J Psychiatry 1983; 140:476-479
Copyright © 1983 by American Psychiatric Association
Effects of diet on urinary excretion of MHPG in normal preadolescent boys
WO Shekim, MJ Rutledge, J Javaid, H Dekirmenjian and JM Davis
The authors examined the effect of diets with low and high monoamine
content on the 24-hour urinary excretion of 3-methoxy-4-
hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) and creatinine in eight healthy preadolescent
boys. The subjects were admitted to a clinical research center and were
placed on a diet low in monoamines--the vanillylmandelic acid
(VMA)-exclusion diet--for 5 consecutive days. They were switched on the 6th
day to a diet rich in monoamines, and urine specimens were collected for 4
more consecutive days. There were no differences in MHPG or creatinine
excretion between the urine taken on the low and high monoamine diet days.
