Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!snorkelwacker!spdcc!dyer
From: dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: Re: MAO inhibitors [request]
Message-ID: <1259@ursa-major.SPDCC.COM>
Date: 17 Jan 90 16:00:38 GMT
References: <2160@sunset.MATH.UCLA.EDU>
Reply-To: dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer)
Distribution: alt
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA
Lines: 23

In article <2160@sunset.MATH.UCLA.EDU> trainor@MATH.UCLA.EDU (Douglas J. Trainor) writes:
>Anyone got a list of common MAO inhibitors (i.e. food stuffs) that
>should not be consumed with MDMA?  E.g., red wine, chicken liver, 
>non-pasturized yogurt, ...

You've got it backwards.  You're thinking of tyramine (a sympathomimetic
amine found in aged foods formed from the breakdown of tyrosine).
People taking MAO inhibitors avoid such foods because tyramine is
ordinarily quickly destroyed by MAO.  In the presense of a MAO inhibitor,
tyramine is absorbed from the gut and produces symptoms of excessive
adrenergic activity: headache, raised blood pressure, etc.  Severe cases
can cause a stroke.

I don't think there's any evidence that MDMA is a MAO inhibitor.

Yogurt probably isn't a big deal, though it's sometimes included on the list
of foods to avoid.  Most cheeses other than cottage cheese are verboten.
Dried meats and sausages are out.  Vegemite has loads of the stuff.  Figures.

-- 
Steve Dyer
dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer
dyer@arktouros.mit.edu, dyer@hstbme.mit.edu