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Yes, coconut oil does contain MCTs, but it is not as some people believe pure MCT. Only ~50% of the fat in coconut oil is actually in MCT form. If you want pure MCTs you have to resort to specific MCT supplements / oils.

The mechanisms by which medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) may help you to lose fat are manifold. They are not only hard to store for your body. They also counteract fat deposition in adipocytes by increasing thermogenesis and satiety.

MCTs contain 8 to 12 carbon atoms and include caprylic acid (C8:0, octanoic acid), capric acid (C10:0, decanoic acid), and lauric acid (C12:0, dodecanoic acid). Foods high in MCTs include coconut oil (58%), palm kernel oil (54%), desiccated coconut (37%), and raw coconut meat (19% of total energy) (USDA). Average intakes of 1.35 g/day (0.7% of total energy intake | USDA. 2008) MCTs have been reported in the United States and 0.2 g/day in Japan | Kasai. 2003).
MCT is cleaved into glycerol and medium-chain fatty acids in the gut lumen.5 The medium chain length makes a smaller, more soluble molecule compared with a longchain fatty acid, giving it a preferential absorption and metabolic route in the body. As the authors of the latest meta-analysis of the effects of MCTs on body weight say:

"[t]his physicochemical nature of medium-chain fatty acids allows them to pass into the portal vein on route to the liver to be rapidly metabolized via b oxidation with no requirement of reesterification in intestinal cells, incorporation into chylomicrons, or the rate limiting enzyme carnitine acyltransferase for intramitochondrial transport. In comparison, long-chain fatty acids have a slower route, being re-esterified in the small intestine and transported by chylomicrons via the lymphatic and vascular system before being oxidized for energy or stored. Thus, rapid metabolism of MCTs reduces their opportunity of adipose tissue uptake." (Mumme. 2015)

Several human intervention studies have been conducted investigating the weight-reducing potential of MCT, with mixed results. In their latest meta-analysis, Mumme et al. set out to separate the wheat from the chaff in order to answer the question whether MCTs, specifically C8:0 and C10:0, provide significant weight loss benefits and/or trigger changes in body composition compared to "regular" long-chain fatty acids (LCT).

Figure 1: Meta-analysis for changes in body weight (in kilograms) in randomized control trials that compared dietary medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) with a longer-chain triglyceride (control) shows a favorable effect of MCT intervention on body weight. *Oleic acid as control. **Myristic acid as control. #Body mass index < 23. ##Body mass index > 23. IV inverse variance. SD standard deviation (Mumme. 2015).

The researchers primary outcome measures were body mass, waist and hip circumference, total body fat, and subcutaneous and visceral fat. Secondary outcomes were blood lipids, including triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol. Of the latter the foremost values are those that are of greatest interest and among them the body mass shows a measurable, albeit not earth-shattering reduction in almost all trials. Only the in the 2001 study by Matsuo et al. there was an increase in body weight in response to an MCT supplement that contained almost no medium chain triglycerides.

Figure 2: Meta-analysis for changes in total body fat, total subcutaneous fat, and visceral fat (Mumme. 2015).

In view of the fact that the most relevant obesity parameters, i.e. the waist and hip circumferences and body fat percentages (Figure 2) dropped in all studies that investigated this parameter and considering the fact that there were no significant deterioration - rather improvements - in blood lipids, it appears warranted to assume that the replacement (!), but not the addition, of 2g/day MCTs (1% of the energy) to 54 g/day MCTs (20% of the total energy intake)  over a duration of 4 to 16 weeks leads to measurable and potentially health relevant weight loss, compared to bacon, butter & co, i.e. regular long chain fatty acids.
References:

• DeLany, James P., et al. "Differential oxidation of individual dietary fatty acids in humans." The American journal of clinical nutrition 72.4 (2000): 905-911.
• Hamman, Richard F., et al. "Effect of weight loss with lifestyle intervention on risk of diabetes." Diabetes care 29.9 (2006): 2102-2107.
• Kasai, Michio, et al. "Effect of dietary medium-and long-chain triacylglycerols (MLCT) on accumulation of body fat in healthy humans." Asia Pacific journal of clinical nutrition 12.2 (2003): 151-160.
• Mumme et al. "Effects of Medium-Chain Triglycerides on Weight Loss and Body Composition: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials." EAT RIGHT - Research Review (2015).
• US Department of Agriculture. Nutrient Intakes From Food: Mean Amounts Counsumed per Individual, One Day, 2005-2006. Washington, DC: US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service; 2008.

Do you really need a barbell or will hopping around in a group dance course or working out in the water aka hydrogymnastic suffice to build the 2015 cover model physique thats part of your new years resolution? A recent Portuguese + Brazilian study may hold the answer to this "important" question.

Its about time to think about a good new years resolution; and since any resolution thats aimed at losing weight and/or building a better physique, naturally involves exercise, the latest study from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro comes right in time (Soares Costa de Mendonça. 2014).

The study that was conducted by Rosa Maria Soares Costa de Mendonça, Adenilson Targino de Araújo Júnior from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro in Portugal, Maria do Socorro Cirilo de Sousa from the Federal Institute of Technology Education in Brazil and Helder Miguel Fernandes from the Research Centre for Sport in Portugal was designed to investigate the possible effects of 16 weeks of practicing different physical exercise programmes (strength training, dance or hydrogymnastics) on the body composition and anthropometric dimensions of adult women.
The sample was comprised of 89 adult women aged 25–55 (41.42 ± 9.23 years), who were used to train at least three times a week and had no history of health issues that may compromise their ability to participate in the study. . Of these, 60% were married, 27% single and 12% divorced, all residing in the northeastern part of Brazil. As the scientists point out, ...

"[t]hese women were selected using a non probabilistic manner in specific locations, such as fitness clubs, hydrogymnastic gyms and a public municipal institution.

The sample was randomly divided into four groups, of which one was designed as the control group consisting of individuals that were sedentary (CG) (n = 25) and three were characterised as experimental groups:

• strength training (SG) (n = 25), in which the ladies trained three times per week under the supervision of a qualified trainer and did 3 sets of 8–12 repetitions (weights were progressively increased) with a 2–3 min rest period on each of the 50–60 workouts in which all the major muscle groups of the upper and lower limbs were exercised with the use of either machines with weights, free weights or resistance equipment,
• dance (DG) (n = 18), which the women trained three times per week at a moderate to vigorous intensity, which was defined as 60 to 85% of the maximum heart rate as identified by the calculation 220 – age for 50 to 60 minutes workouts involving activities activating all the major muscle groups in a continuous manner using basic steps and a minimum of three rhythmic variations of popular dance styles and aerobics per session with songs of a rhythmic cadence of 100 to 160 beats per minute, and
• hydrogymnastics (HG) (n = 21), in which the women trained with a frequency of three days per week at moderate to vigorous intensity, defined as 60 to 85% of the maximum heart rate using exercises that involved the major muscle groups of the upper and lower limbs with a focus on cardiorespiratory exercises, followed by muscular endurance exercises using equipment such as shin pads designed for hydrogymnastics, dumbbells, bars, plates, floating devices and pool edges with each exercise taking from 2 to 3 min to complete and the whole session lasting 45 to 55 min.

All workouts were designed according to the exercise routines from the ACSM guidelines (Garber. 2011) and the adherence to the exercise prescription was monitored by trained personnel. The workout duration and frequency were more or less identical and even the intensity was similar.

Figure 1: Changes in anthropometric parameters after 16 weeks of training (Soares Costa de Mendonça. 2014).

As you can see all training regimen lead to measurable improvements in the anthropometric parameters. Of the three different exercise regimen the "exotic", i.e. the hydrogymnastics training, was yet on overall the most effective "belly fat reducer" among the three training protocols.

Figure 2: Changes in body composition (calculated based on caliper data) after 16 weeks of hydrogymnastics, weight training, dance or idleness (Soares Costa de Mendonça. 2014).

Things look a bit different, when we take the body composition data the scientists calculated based on the skinfold measures into account: Here the strength training has a slight, but not necessarily significant edge over the hydrogymnastics (keep in mind that the efficacy of hydrogymnasticsmay partly be due to a novelty effect, i.e. new exercise = greater response | see fat mass loss after 8 vs. 16 weeks). Every ladies favorite, the group based dance exercise is yet - once again - trailing third.
References:

• Garber, Carol Ewing, et al. "American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, and neuromotor fitness in apparently healthy adults: guidance for prescribing exercise." Medicine and science in sports and exercise 43.7 (2011): 1334-1359.
• Soares Costa de Mendonça, Rosa Maria, et al. "The Effects of Different Exercise Programmes on Female Body Composition." Journal of Human Kinetics 43.1 (2014): 67-78.

If you dont see any results, changing the angle, grip, etc. is unlikely to bring you from "zero" to "extreme" gains.

I dont need a scientific study to tell that the bench press is among the favorite exercises of all (male) trainees. That being said, the science investigating its effects and how to do it is comparably scarce. Leg extensions are after all the favorite exercise of every researcher, because even sedentary couch potatoes can do them and the results dont depend on your "extension technique" ;-)

That being said, there are a handful of studies dealing with the bench press. Studies that investigate the effects of bench angles, grip width & type, free weight vs. machine training, training to failure or not, etc. a selection of which I will review in todays SuppVersity article.

• Is there a place for the incline bench press in your routine? According to data from a 1995 study from the University of Queensland, it would seem the answer is "unlikely". In the corresponding experiment, Barnett et al. investigated the effects of varying bench inclination on the EMG activity of five muscles acting at the shoulder joint.
  
  Six male weight trainers performed presses under four conditions of trunk inclination and two of hand spacing at 80% of their predetermined max. Preamplified surface EMG electrodes were placed over the five muscles in question. The EMG signals during the 2-sec lift indicated some significant effects of trunk inclination and hand spacing (see Figure 3, as well).
  

  Figure 1: As you can see, the deltaoid muscles take over, as the angle increases (left), when it decreases significantly, i.e. on the decline bench, on the other hand, the latissimus dorsi (right) is suddenly involved (Barnett. 1995).

  More specifically, the sternocostal head of the pectoralis major, or the "middle part of the pecs" as the bros would say, was more active during the press from a horizontal bench than from a decline bench. Since the clavicular head of the pectoralis major, or the "upper part of the pecs", was no more active during the incline bench press (where the delts "shouldered" much of the exercise) than during the horizontal one, and was less active during the decline bench press, it would appear as if doing incline benches is at best something you can do on top of the regular press.
  
  On the other hand, we are - once more - lacking data on the long-term effects of benching on a flat vs. incline bench, which is why I cannot guarantee that changing things up from time to time is not eventually going to give you the best results. Or, as Barnett et al. point out: "Any benefits of varying the bench inclination for the pectoralis major are more likely due to psychological or biological factors (other than the quantity of EMG activation)" (Barnett. 1995).
• Is benching with a slightly wider than shoulder wide grip still the way to go? The purpose of this study from the University of Southwestern Louisiana was to determine the effect of grip width on myoelectric activity of the pectoralis major, anterior deltoid, triceps brachii, and biceps brachii during a 1-RM bench press. Put simply, Clemons et al. wanted to know if using different grip widths would have the triceps, biceps or deltoid do more and the pecs less work.
  
  

  Figure 2: Like most people this guy benches with ~125% of the biacromial breadth (distance from the outer part of the shoulder on the left to the outer part of the shoulder on the right).

  Grip widths of 100,130,165, and 190% (G1, 2, 3, 4, respectively) of biacromial breadth were used in the study. Mean integrated myoelectric activity for each muscle and at each grip width was determined for the concentric portion of each 1-RM and normalized to percentages of max volitional isometric contractions (%MVIC). Data analysis employed a one-factor (grip width) univariate repeated measures ANOVA.

• The results of the study indicate that (a) the grip width you select will have significant main effects on muscle activity (3%, 5% and 8% increased maximal volutional isometric contractions with 30%, 65% and 90% increased grip width vs. should width) and that (b) that this difference was particularly pronounced (surprise ;-) when comparing 190% to 100% and 100%. More specifically, the involvement of the triceps increased, as the grip narrowed. Simlarly, a study by Barnett et al. (1995) indicates that the middle of the pecs major was more active with a narrower hand spacing.
  

  Figure 3: As a study by Barnett et al. indicates the effects of grip width on the absolute activity of the sternocostal head (middle pecs) is negligible (Barnett. 1995).

  Since EMG measures dont necessary translate to gains, these observations do not mean, though, that the wide bench press was the best chest builder (read all SuppVersity EMG Articles). To confirm that wed need long-term studies on the actual growth effect, which are unfortunately lacking.
• Are free weights always the better choice? Common wisdom has it that nothing compare to free weight training. A claim that is supported, but not fully confirmed by a 1994 study from the Illinois State University which shows that greater muscle activity is in fact achieved during the free-weight bench press, especially at the 60% 1-RM load.

  Figure 4: Comparison of the muscle activity during free weight and machine guided bench presses - please not that the differences reached significant only for the low = 60% 1RM weight (McCaw. 1996).

  What is quite noteworthy, though, is that (a) few people bench at only 60% of their 1-RM which would allow them to do at least 15 reps if not more and (b) that there were notable differences among the patterns of individual subjects.
  
  It is thus questionable that (1) the free-weight bench press is vastly superior to benching on a guided machine and that (2) this is the case for everyone - specifically in rookies, I could imagine that they get more out of the benching on a machine... One should keep in mind, however, that if you never bench with free weights, how will hardly learn how to do it properly to eventually benefit from the increased muscle activation.
  

  Figure 4: Free weight bench presses have the edge over the smith machine, in terms of avg. pec activity, but the differences are highly variable individual and dont reach statistical significance (Schick. 2010).

  In view of the fact that a similar study by Schick et al., which otherwise confirms the results of the study at hand observing increased activity of the stabilizer and measurable, but non-significantly increased pectoralis activity on free weight vs. machine bench presses (see Figure 5), indicates that the advantage of free weight vs. guided smith machine bench presses increases in experienced vs. rookie weight lifters, thatd be a bummer.
• Going to failure on the bench - is that useful or bogus? According to the results of a 2005 study from the ACT in Cranberra, bench press training that leads to repetition failure induces greater strength gains than nonfailure training in the bench press exercise for elite junior team sport athletes.
  
  As you can see in Figure 5, the differences that were observed in response to thrice weekly bench press training for 6 weeks using equal volume programs (24 reps, 80-105% 6RM in 13 minutes 20 seconds) in 26 elite junior male basketball and soccer players with a history of greater than 6 months’ strength training were significant, but not exuberant.
  

  Figure 5: Effects of training to failure on bench throw (left) and bench press 6RM (right) in soccer and basketball players (Drinkwater. 2005).

  The results of previous studies on training to failure are ambigous, by the way. Rooney et al. (1994), for example demonstrated that when a 6RM load is lifted repeatedly 6 times without resting between repetitions, the strength gains are significantly greater than when the same load is lifted an equal number of times with a 30-second interval between each lift to avoid fatigue. He suggested that when the athlete is fatigued, additional motor units are recruited in an attempt to continue the muscular activity, and this is thought to provide an additional stimulus for strength gains and hypertrophy.
  
  Other studies have shown, on the contrary, that training to failure may not be necessary for optimal gains, but they were not controlled for volume and intensity (Kramer. 1997; Stowers. 1983). In his 2010 review Schoenfeld argues that the possible increase in strength and size gains is also paid for with an increase in overtraining and injury risk. It is thus still not clear, whether training to failure is necessarily beneficial for all or should be used only by certain athletes and/or training phases.
• Do exaggerated eccentrics increase your strength gains on the bench? "Yes, it does!" - thats an answer researchers from the Ball State University would probably give to the question. In their 2002 study, the scientists examined the effects of additional eccentric loading on subsequent concentric strength.
  
  

  Figure 6: The data in the graph on the top indicates that the patented weight-release devices provide additional eccentric loading and are released at the bottom of the bench press before the concentric phase (Doan. 2002)

  Eight subjects with some experience in weight training volunteered to perform maximal attempts in the barbell bench press using detaching hooks that allowed them to lower 105% of their concentric 1 repetition maximum (RM) and raise 100%. The detaching hooks allowed attachment of extra weight to the bar and would release from the bar at the bottom of the lift, reducing the weight lifted during the concentric phase of the lift. After determining their 1RM for the bench press, the subjects attempted to increase their performance by using a heavier eccentric load with the detaching hooks.
  
  All 8 subjects who completed the study increased their 1RMs by 5 to 15 pounds; and as the data in Figure 8 indicates, the use of additional eccentric loading significantly (p 5 0.008) increased the weight that could be lifted on the subsequent concentric phase and therefore 1RM performance. As the researchers point out "[t]his phenomenon was a result of the enhancement of stretch-shortening cycle performance by the increased eccentric load" (Doan. 2002).
  
  Athletes who are interested in developing 1RM strength in the bench press may thus as the study and hand indicates benefit from the use of additional eccentric loading.

References:

• Barnett, Chris, Vaughan Kippers, and Peter Turner. "Effects of Variations of the Bench Press Exercise on the EMG Activity of Five Shoulder Muscles." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 9.4 (1995): 222-227.
• Clemons, James M., and Chantelle Aaron. "Effect of Grip Width on the Myoelectric Activity of the Prime Movers in the Bench Press." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 11.2 (1997): 82-87.
• Doan, Brandon K., et al. "Effects of increased eccentric loading on bench press 1RM." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 16.1 (2002): 9-13.
• Drinkwater, Eric J., et al. "Training leading to repetition failure enhances bench press strength gains in elite junior athletes." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 19.2 (2005): 382-388.
• Keogh, Justin WL, Greg J. Wilson, and Robert E. Weatherby. "A Cross-Sectional Comparison of Different Resistance Training Techniques in the Bench Press." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 13.3 (1999): 247-258.
• Kramer, James B., et al. "Effects of single vs. multiple sets of weight training: Impact of volume, intensity, and variation." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 11.3 (1997): 143-147.
• Lehman, Gregory J. "The influence of grip width and forearm pronation/supination on upper-body myoelectric activity during the flat bench press." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 19.3 (2005): 587-591.
• McCaw, Steven T., and Jeffrey J. Friday. "A Comparison of Muscle Activity Between a Free Weight and Machine Bench Press." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 8.4 (1994): 259-264.
• Rooney, Kieran J., Robert D. Herbert, and Ronald J. Balnave. "Fatigue contributes to the strength training stimulus." Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 26 (1994): 1160-4.
• Schick, Evan E., et al. "A comparison of muscle activation between a Smith machine and free weight bench press." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 24.3 (2010): 779-784.
• Schoenfeld, Brad J. "The mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy and their application to resistance training." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 24.10 (2010): 2857-2872.
• Stowers, Tim, et al. "The Short-Term Effects of Three Different Strength-Power Training Methods." Strength & Conditioning Journal 5.3 (1983): 24-27.

Trp and its metabolite 5-HTP may be particularly useful for female sugar cravings and binges.

Can l-tryptophan help you lose body fat? If you look at the results of the latest study from the University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology it would seem that the answer to this question may be "Possibly, yes, but..." Before we come to the implications I would yet like to take a closer look at said study which shows that a lack of tryptophan (Trp) during diets does not just affect the biosynthesis of serotonin, but may also be associated with increased susceptibility for mood disturbances and carbohydrate craving. Accordingly, "strategies to supplement Trp while dieting could be highly useful in treating uncontrolled weight gain or in preventing neuropsychiatric symptoms" (Strasser. 2014).
As Strasser et al. point out, both overweight and obesity go hand in hand with significant increases in low-grade inflammation. The latter is not just the reason that obesity increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, though. Recent evidence suggests that it is also associated with errors in the kynurenine (Kyn) pathway, in which tryptophan is broken down to kynurenine which in turn has been associated with increased risk of depressive symptoms, cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, Alzheimers and, as mentioned before, cardiovascular disease. Weight loss, on the other hand,

"[...] has been shown to improve or prevent many of the aforementioned conditions. Bariatric surgical intervention in patients with adiposity was found not to improve tryptophan breakdown rates and other signs of immune activation and inflammation [4], whereas caloric restriction is known to be a strong activator of protective metabolic pathways, thereby leading to lower blood pressure, improved blood lipids, and reduced inflammatory markers, including CRP [9]. Still, little is known about the effects of an extreme short-term hypocaloric diet on Trp metabolism and changes in inflammatory biomarkers" (Strasser. 2014).

The study Barbara Strasser, Ken Berger and Dietmar Fuchs conducted was thus designed to assess the effect of a 2-week caloric restriction weight loss diet on Trp breakdown, leptin, and inflammatory biomarkers in over weight adults.
The scientists randomized 27 overweight and 11 obese participants (22 men and 16 women, mean age 52.8 ± 9.1 years) from the health center Lanserhof, Innsbruck–Lans, into two diet groups:

• a very low kcal diet group (VLCD; Ø 600 kcal/ day) and 
• a low kcal diet group (LCD; Ø 1,200 kcal/day). 

Only healthy subjects with BMI [25 kg/m²] between the ages of 35 and 70 years were accepted for the study. A physician performed physical examinations on all subjects before the study. Subjects were excluded if they consume any anti-inflammatory drugs (e.g., ibuprofen or aspirin) or supplements (such as antioxidants or fish-oil capsules). None from either group was involved in regular training programs.

Figure 1: Changes in body composition pre- vs. post (Strasser. 2015).

As the measurements of body composition, which were just like the energy intake and biologic markers conducted in all subjects before and after the 2-week energy restriction intervention period, indicate, both diets lead to significant reductions in body mass - and that almost exclusively in form of body fat.

Table 1: Biologic markers before and after a 2-week very low kcal diet (VLCD) or low kcal die (LCD) in 38 overweight subjects (mean ± SD)

"Data for biologic markers are shown in Table [1]. Fasting blood glucose declined significantly (P < 0.05) in the LCD group with no significant changes in insulin sensitivity in both groups after 2 weeks of caloric restriction. Weight loss diet lowered leptin levels in both groups, although not reaching the level of significance. Inflammatory biomarkers were not significantly altered during the trial, although there was a tendency toward an increase in IL-6 and TNF-a in the LCD group" (Strasser. 2015).

In contrast to what the researchers expected, both the Trp and Kyn concentrations decreased significantly by 21 and 16 % for VLCD and by 15 and 17 % for the LCD group, respectively, with no significant difference between groups. Practically speaking, this means that the ratio of Kyn/Trp concentrations did not change significantly in both groups.
A significant reduction in Phe concentrations was only seen after VLCD. Neopterin and Tyr levels remained unchanged during the trial. Which leaves us with only one significant finding:

"Trp concentrations decreased significantly with a caloric restriction weight loss diet, and lowest Trp concentrations were observed in the group of individuals with the lowest calorie intake." (Strasser. 2015)

This reduction in Trp levels may well induce a disturbance in the biosynthesis of neurotransmitter 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT | Anderson. 1990), and appears to be associated with an increased susceptibility for depression (Widnet. 2002; Raison. 2009). Strasser et al. highlight:

Figure 2: The consumption of tryptophan-free amino acid supplements leads to highly significant increases in hunger ratings in healthy female subjects (Rieber. 2010).

"Because Trp is precursor in various biochemical pathways, e.g., it is hydroxylated by tryptophan-5-hydroxylase (T5H) into the intermediate product 5-hydroxy-tryptophan, which by decarboxylation is further converted to neurotransmitter 5-HT (serotonin), and because substrate saturation of T5H is only about 50 % (Dantzer. 2011), changes in plasma Trp levels may have an immediate impact on brain serotonin levels" (Strasser. 2014).

Experiments in which Trp was acutely depleted (in many studies by administering BCAAs | see red boy) support this assumption. Young et al. (2013), for example, confirmed that the acute depletion of tryptophan will lead to low serotonin and subsequently lower mood and increased aggression, although results vary somewhat between studies with similar participants.

Figure 3: Correlations between changes in tryp:LNAA ratio and appetite ratings (Gendall. 2000).

For the link to obesity, though, the correlation (r-values in Figure 3) between high Trp:LNAA (BCAAs, tyrosine, phenlylanine) and a reduction carbohydrate cravings, general hunger and binge eating is yet way more important - and that specifically for women, who appear more vulnerable than men both to the diet-induced reductions in Trp and to its consequences for brain serotonin function (Anderson. 1990).

Ah, and in case you are asking yourself why carbohydrate / sugar binges are a common consequence of low tryptophane:LNAA ratios, its important to know that increases in glucose and insulin in response to high carbohydrate meals will trigger an increase in brain tryptophan and serotonin synthesis (Benton. 2002). This is why the effects of low tryptophan or high LNAA (BCAA, tyrosine, phenylalanine) levels are more pronounced if you avoid dietary carbohydrates.
References:

• Anderson, I. M., et al. "Dieting reduces plasma tryptophan and alters brain 5-HT function in women." Psychological medicine 20.04 (1990): 785-791. 
• Benton, David. "Carbohydrate ingestion, blood glucose and mood." Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 26.3 (2002): 293-308.
• Cangiano, Carlo, et al. "Eating behavior and adherence to dietary prescriptions in obese adult subjects treated with 5-hydroxytryptophan." The American journal of clinical nutrition 56.5 (1992): 863-867.
• Cangiano, Carlos, et al. "Effects of oral 5-hydroxy-tryptophan on energy intake and macronutrient selection in non-insulin dependent diabetic patients." International journal of obesity and related metabolic disorders: journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity 22.7 (1998): 648-654.
• Ceci, F., et al. "The effects of oral 5-hydroxytryptophan administration on feeding behavior in obese adult female subjects." Journal of neural transmission 76.2 (1989): 109-117.
• Cui, Y., T. F. Lee, and L. C. H. Wang. "Thermoregulatory responses following injection of 5-hydroxytryptamine into the septohippocampal complex in rats." Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior 45.4 (1993): 935-939.
• Dantzer, Robert, et al. "Inflammation-associated depression: from serotonin to kynurenine." Psychoneuroendocrinology 36.3 (2011): 426-436. 
• Fernstrom, John D. "Branched-chain amino acids and brain function." The Journal of nutrition 135.6 (2005): 1539S-1546S.
• Gendall, Kelly A., and Peter R. Joyce. "Meal-induced changes in tryptophan: LNAA ratio: effects on craving and binge eating." Eating behaviors 1.1 (2000): 53-62. 
• Le Feuvre, R. A., L. Aisenthal, and N. J. Rothwell. "Involvement of corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF) in the thermogenic and anorexic actions of serotonin (5-HT) and related compounds." Brain research 555.2 (1991): 245-250.
• Nieuwenhuizen, Arie G., et al. "Acute effects of breakfasts containing ?-lactalbumin, or gelatin with or without added tryptophan, on hunger,‘satiety’hormones and amino acid profiles." British journal of nutrition 101.12 (2009): 1859-1866.
• Raison, Charles L., et al. "CSF concentrations of brain tryptophan and kynurenines during immune stimulation with IFN-?: relationship to CNS immune responses and depression." Molecular psychiatry 15.4 (2009): 393-403.
• Rieber, N., et al. "Acute tryptophan depletion increases experimental nausea but also induces hunger in healthy female subjects." Neurogastroenterology & Motility 22.7 (2010): 752-e220.
• Strasser, Barbara, Ken Berger, and Dietmar Fuchs. "Effects of a caloric restriction weight loss diet on tryptophan metabolism and inflammatory biomarkers in overweight adults." European journal of nutrition (2014): 1-7.
• Widner, Bernhard, et al. "Neopterin production, tryptophan degradation, and mental depression—What is the link?." Brain, behavior, and immunity 16.5 (2002): 590-595.
• Young, Simon N. "The effect of raising and lowering tryptophan levels on human mood and social behaviour." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 368.1615 (2013): 20110375.