Oamenii de știință au demonstrat pentru prima dată efectele pudrei și extractului de ceai Matcha în reducerea anxietății la un model animal. Matcha este o alternativă sigură și naturală pentru a calma anxietatea și pentru a crește starea de spirit.
Starea de spirit și anxietate disorders are becoming commonplace in our fast-paced and often stressful lives. Anxietate disorders and fear has been linked to disturbance in dopaminergic and serotonergic systems in our brain. Anxietate symptoms also increases risk of other medical disorders and affects overall wellbeing of a person. Anxiolytic (or antianxiety) agents like benzodiazepines and serotonin inhibitors are generally used for treatment as they reduce or inhibit anxietate. However, they have many side effects, sometimes even adverse, and they also increase dependency. Safer, natural alternative need to be developed for anxietate de management.
In Japan, ‘Matcha’ has been used since a long time for different medicinal purposes. Matcha is a finely grounded power of new leaves from tree plant called Camellia sinensis care este lăsată să crească numai la umbră. Pentru preparare se folosește pudra de matcha Ceaiul Matcha by adding it directly to hot water. It is also used for adding flavour to food. Matcha ceai is different from regular green tea in its content mainly because of differences cultivation and processing. Camellia sinensis planta este bogata in L-teanina, galat de epigalocatechin (EGCG), cofeina, vitamine si aminoacizi si astfel consumul de Matcha ofera cateva beneficii atasate acestor substante bioactive. Este folosit în mod obișnuit în Japonia pentru vindecarea, relaxarea și chiar tratamentul afecțiunilor pielii. Cu toate acestea, sunt disponibile dovezi științifice foarte limitate pentru a susține afirmațiile de mai sus. De asemenea, efectele pudrei Matcha asupra aspectelor comportamentale nu au fost explorate până acum.
Un studiu publicat in Jurnal al alimentelor funcționale has investigated and demonstrated the effects of Matcha ceai powder, hot water extract and ethanol extract for anti anxietate activity in an animal model (here, mice). Researchers conducted an elevated plus maze (EPM) test in healthy animals. EPM involves use of an elevated plus-shaped platform which has two open arms and two closed arms with walls around it. It is a commonly used anxiety test in which animal subjects which are anxious try to stay on the safe area of the plus where they cannot fall off.
The animals were orally administered Matcha powder and extract or fractions dissolved in water. Results showed that the animals who had consumed Matcha had reduced anxietate. The strongest effect was seen in Matcha extract derived using 80% ethanol when compared to extract derived from hot water. This meant that poor water-solubility of Matcha has better anti anxietate effect than when it was easily water soluble. The ethanol extract was fractioned further into hexane soluble, ethyl acetate soluble and water-soluble fractions which exhibited similar results. Behavioural analysis showed that Matcha power and extract reduce anxietate by activating dopamine D1 and serotonin 5-HT1A receptors which are closely linked to anxious behaviour.
The current study conducted on mice demonstrates that Matcha ceai powder and extract have a positive calming effect and reduce anxiety by activating dopaminergic and serotonergic systems in the brain. Matcha is a safe and natural alternative for alleviating anxiety.
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Sursa (s)
Kurauchi, Y. et al. 2019. Anxiolytic activities of Matcha ceai powder, extracts, and fractions in mice: Contribution of dopamine D1 receptor- and serotonin 5-HT1A receptor-mediated mechanisms. Journal of Functional Foods. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2019.05.046
