Anxiety
Frequently Asked Questions about Anxiety
Does chewing gum offer any health benefits?
Chewing gum can provide health benefits ranging from improved oral health to reduced hunger and stress levels, but for some people these are balanced out by possible downsides such as increased headaches.
How eating better can make you happier
Food and supplements that can help fight stress, fatigue, anxiety, depression, and help you sleep better.
Human Effect Matrix
The Human Effect Matrix looks at human studies (it excludes animal and in vitro studies) to tell you what supplements affect anxiety
| Grade | Level of Evidence [show legend] |
|---|---|
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Robust research conducted with repeated double-blind clinical trials |
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Multiple studies where at least two are double-blind and placebo controlled |
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Single double-blind study or multiple cohort studies |
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Uncontrolled or observational studies only |
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Level of Evidence
?
The amount of high quality evidence. The more
evidence, the more we can trust the results.
|
Outcome |
Magnitude of effect
?
The direction and size of the supplement's impact on
each outcome. Some supplements can have an increasing effect, others have a decreasing effect, and others have no effect.
|
Consistency of research results
?
Scientific research does not always agree. HIGH or
VERY HIGH means that most of the scientific research agrees.
|
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Notable
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Very High See all 8 studies |
Appears to be quite reliable and effective in treating non-psychotic anxiety, with less reliability on the topic of generalized anxiety (which lavender shows some promise for). It is possible that long-term usage of kava may have similar side-effects as long term usage of benzodiazepines (note demonstrated, but wholly logical) and most studies on kava are of a few weeks in duration without any problems.
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Notable
|
Very High See all 6 studies |
Evidence suggests potent anxiolytic effects in the context of chronic stress and anxiety disorder, with lesser potency in standard forms of anxiety not related to stress. There may be more benefit to social anxiety as well with Ashwagandha relative to other anxiolytics. More high-quality studies are needed to get an accurate assessment of how effective it is and the optimal dose.
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Notable
|
Very High See all 4 studies |
There appears to be a decrease in anxiety symptoms associated with high dose inositol, and it has been noted to be comparable to fluvoxamine in potency.
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References
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- Wessel SW, et al. Quantification and qualification of bacteria trapped in chewed gum. PLoS One. (2015)
- Nayak PA, Nayak UA, Khandelwal V. The effect of xylitol on dental caries and oral flora. Clin Cosmet Investig Dent. (2014)
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- Ekuni D, et al. Gum chewing modulates heart rate variability under noise stress. Acta Odontol Scand. (2012)
- Walker J, et al. Chewing unflavored gum does not reduce cortisol levels during a cognitive task but increases the response of the sympathetic nervous system. Physiol Behav. (2016)
- Hasegawa Y, et al. Flavor-Enhanced Modulation of Cerebral Blood Flow during Gum Chewing. PLoS One. (2013)
- Morinushi T, et al. Effect on electroencephalogram of chewing flavored gum. Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. (2000)
- Hetherington MM, Boyland E. Short-term effects of chewing gum on snack intake and appetite. Appetite. (2007)
- Hetherington MM, Regan MF. Effects of chewing gum on short-term appetite regulation in moderately restrained eaters. Appetite. (2011)
- Melanson KJ, Kresge DL. Chewing gum decreases energy intake at lunch following a controlled breakfast. Appetite. (2017)
- Park E, et al. Short-term effects of chewing gum on satiety and afternoon snack intake in healthy weight and obese women. Physiol Behav. (2016)
- Xu J, et al. The effect of gum chewing on blood GLP-1 concentration in fasted, healthy, non-obese men. Endocrine. (2015)
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