ergo-log.com

Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "

16.10.2022

Anise oil capsules break a bad mood

Anise oil improves mood, Iranian pharmacologists discovered. The researchers gave aniseed oil capsules to people with mild depression and found the patients' condition cleared up within four weeks.

Study
Pharmacologists from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Iran divided 120 people with mild depression into 3 groups. In addition to depression, all subjects also had irritable bowel syndrome [IBS]. Many people with IBS also struggle with depression.

For 4 weeks, subjects in one group took a placebo daily, subjects in a second group took capsules of peppermint oil daily, and subjects in the third group took 3 capsules daily, each containing 120 milligrams of anise oil. The subjects took a capsule with each meal.

Results
During the experiment, the researchers determined the severity of the depression using the Beck Inventory. During the administration period, the depression scores of the subjects who received anise oil supplements dropped significantly more than the scores of the other groups.

Two weeks after the supplementation period ended, at week 6, these differences had further increased.

Mechanisme?
The researchers decided to try anise oil capsules because according to traditional Persian herbal books, anise warms the heart and mind. They don't know exactly how according to current scientific insights anise oil should work.

Unhindered by a great deal of knowledge, we, the compilers of this free web magazine, make an attempt to clarify the working mechanism. Anise oil consists of 80 percent anethole. Anethole is a raw material for the synthetic recreational drug para-methoxy-amphetamine [PMA]. PMA enhances the effect of serotonin and is marketed as an alternative to MDMA.

According to some adventurous biochemists, anethole may convert in the body into amphetamines with a serotonergic effect. We ourselves suspect that anethole, even if that conversion does not take place, has a similar effect.

Source:
J Evid Based Complementary Altern Med. 2017 Jan;22(1):41-6.

More:
Supplement with Q10 improves treatment of depression 16.09.2022
St. John's wort reduces depression | Meta-study 07.07.2022
SAMe mitigates major depression 10.05.2022

Archives:
Depression

Goji, a natural anti-depressant A well-dosed supplement with an extract of the Chinese goji berry can speed up recovery from mild depression.	Creatine makes depression treatment with SSRIs more effective Depression disappears faster if patients take 5 grams of creatine daily in addition to their regular treatment with an antidepressant.	EPA is an antidepressant Curcumin may be just as effective an antidepressant as fluoxetine, we reported not long ago. Well, what curcumin can do, EPA can do too.