One seed, and the compound almost nothing else stores

Griffonia is a woody climbing shrub of the forest edges and scrub of West Africa, common in Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire and Togo. It's a legume, with greenish flowers and black pods, and it's the seeds inside those pods that matter here — for a reason with no real parallel anywhere else in the plant world.

The compound is 5-HTP. It's a very small change away from tryptophan, one of the twenty amino acids that make up protein — the sort we get from meat, dairy, beans and grains without ever thinking about it.

What's odd is finding that changed form sitting free and concentrated inside a plant. In most living things the change is made only as it's needed, and nothing accumulates. Griffonia seeds are the exception: they store it, which is why virtually all the material on the market comes from this one shrub rather than from a factory or any other plant.

Because the seed is the source, extracts are described by how much 5-HTP they've been made to contain. A 30% extract means 30% of its weight is 5-HTP — so 333 mg of extract gives you 100 mg. Noticing which of those two numbers a label is quoting is the difference between knowing what you're taking and guessing at it.

Bionetic's 5-HTP is a griffonia seed extract at 30%, giving 100 mg of 5-HTP per capsule. Food supplements should not be used as a substitute for a varied and balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle. If you are taking medication, consult a doctor or pharmacist before use.