Bedtime Snacks? ~ Here's what to avoid and what to have.
If you are comfortable and sleepy at bedtime, a snack is not necessary. In fact, it is often adverse to snack on cheese, chocolate, eggplant, potatoes, sauerkraut, spinach, tomatoes and wine close to bedtime. These foods contain tyramine, which increases the release of norepinephrine, a brain stimulant. And for sure, it is wise to beware of MSG, monosodium glutamate, which is present in many packaged snack foods, especially soups. MSG is an excitotoxin and has damaging effects, especially in babies and young children and anyone subject to symptoms of insomnia, headache and anxiety-irritability.
Beware of simple sugars in soft drinks, desserts, and even natural fruit juices even thought they do enhance brain uptake of tryptophan and thus increase brain serotonin, a sleep hormone. I advise limit of 15 grams, about a tablespoon, due to rebound low blood sugar and early waking 3 or 4 hours later, the so-called dawn phenomenon.
Since 1994 supplements have been regulated by the Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act (DSHEA), which for all intents and purposes, classifies supplements and dietary ingredients as food. Oversight of the law falls under the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), which has as its primary mission, to ensure that supplement ingredients are safe, not adulterated or misbranded, and to oversee claims made by supplement marketers. Unlike pharmaceutical companies which can make disease claims, supplements are limited to “structure/function” claims which describe the role a nutrient or ingredient plays on the structure or function of the body. 
