Nutritional Supplements May Best Anxiety

LOS ANGELESCertain nutritional supplements hold great promise for their ability to treat anxiety symptoms and disorders, according to a new systematic review (Nutrition J. 2010;9:42. DOI: 10.1186/1475-2891-9-42). The researchers from the Global Neuroscience Initiative Foundation noted approximately 6.8 million Americans suffer from generalized anxiety disorder, with many of those suffering physical and behavioral side effects related to common pharma treatments. However, they noted complementary and alternative therapies are more appealing to consumers, particularly in the area of psychological well-being.

Reviewers performed a search through Medline/PubMed and EBSCO, looking for clinical studies publishing in English examining the anxiolytic potential of dietary and herbal supplements; animal trials, meta-analyses, review articles and case studies were excluded. A total of 106 papers were identified as potentially relevant, with 24 meeting the inclusion/exclusion criteria.

The studies that were included examined the efficacy of five monotherapies (passionflower, lysine, magnesium, kava and St. Johns wort) and eight combination treatments (an herbal combo, multivitamin, L-lysine + L-arginine, magnesium + B6, herbal combination + magnesium, calcium + kava, St. Johns wort + kava, St. Johns wort + valerian). Overall, 2,619 participants were included in the studies, the majority of whom had been diagnosed with either an anxiety disorder or depression; eight studies used healthy volunteers with certain anxiety symptoms. A total of 71 percent of the randomized controlled trials showed a positive direction of evidence, and any side effects reported were mild to moderate.

The team concluded the use of certain nutritional and herbal supplements appears effective in treating anxiety and anxiety-related conditions without the risk of serious side effects. Strong evidence was found to exist for the use of passionflower or kava extract, and for the combination of lysine and arginine. Magnesium-containing supplements and other combinations were found to hold promise, but are in need of further research. Finally, St. Johns wort was determined to have insufficient evidence as a monotherapy for anxiety.