The Effects of Green Tea Amino Acid L-Theanine Consumption on the Ability to Manage Stress and Anxiety Levels: a Systematic Review

Jackson L. Williams; Julian M. Everett; Nathan M. D’Cunha; Domenico Sergi; Ekavi N. Georgousopoulou; Richard J. Keegan; Andrew J. McKune; Duane D. Mellor; Nicola Anstice; Nenad Naumovski

doi:10.1007/s11130-019-00771-5

The Effects of Green Tea Amino Acid L-Theanine Consumption on the Ability to Manage Stress and Anxiety Levels: a Systematic Review

Jackson L. Williams, Julian M. Everett, Nathan M. D’Cunha, Domenico Sergi, Ekavi N. Georgousopoulou, Richard J. Keegan, Andrew J. McKune, Duane D. Mellor, Nicola Anstice, Nenad Naumovski^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Aston Medical School

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

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Abstract

The green tea amino acid, L-theanine (L-THE) is associated with several health benefits, including improvements in mood, cognition and a reduction of stress and anxiety-like symptoms. This systematic review evaluated the effect of pure L-THE intake, in the form of orally administered nutritional supplements, on stress responses and anxiety levels in human randomised controlled trials. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist, 9 peer-reviewed journal articles were identified where L-THE as a supplement was compared to a control. Our findings suggest that supplementation of 200–400 mg/day of L-THE may assist in the reduction of stress and anxiety in people exposed to stressful conditions. Despite this finding, longer-term and larger cohort clinical studies, including those where L-THE is incorporated into the diet regularly, are needed to clinically justify the use of L-THE as a therapeutic agent to reduce stress and anxiety in people exposed to stressful conditions.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	12–23
Number of pages	12
Journal	Plant Foods for Human Nutrition
Volume	75
Early online date	22 Dec 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11130-019-00771-5
Publication status	Published - Mar 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding

J Williams is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program scholarship. N.M. D’Cunha is supported by a Dementia Australia Research Foundation PhD scholarship. All other authors declare no funding sources.

Keywords

Anxiety
Green tea
Human trials
L-theanine
Mental health
Stress response

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10.1007/s11130-019-00771-5

Green Tea Amino Acid
© Springer Nature B.V. 2019. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11130-019-00771-5
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Williams, J. L., Everett, J. M., D’Cunha, N. M., Sergi, D., Georgousopoulou, E. N., Keegan, R. J., McKune, A. J., Mellor, D. D., Anstice, N., & Naumovski, N. (2020). The Effects of Green Tea Amino Acid L-Theanine Consumption on the Ability to Manage Stress and Anxiety Levels: a Systematic Review. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition, 75, 12–23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11130-019-00771-5

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abstract = "The green tea amino acid, L-theanine (L-THE) is associated with several health benefits, including improvements in mood, cognition and a reduction of stress and anxiety-like symptoms. This systematic review evaluated the effect of pure L-THE intake, in the form of orally administered nutritional supplements, on stress responses and anxiety levels in human randomised controlled trials. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist, 9 peer-reviewed journal articles were identified where L-THE as a supplement was compared to a control. Our findings suggest that supplementation of 200–400 mg/day of L-THE may assist in the reduction of stress and anxiety in people exposed to stressful conditions. Despite this finding, longer-term and larger cohort clinical studies, including those where L-THE is incorporated into the diet regularly, are needed to clinically justify the use of L-THE as a therapeutic agent to reduce stress and anxiety in people exposed to stressful conditions.",

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Williams, JL, Everett, JM, D’Cunha, NM, Sergi, D, Georgousopoulou, EN, Keegan, RJ, McKune, AJ, Mellor, DD, Anstice, N & Naumovski, N 2020, 'The Effects of Green Tea Amino Acid L-Theanine Consumption on the Ability to Manage Stress and Anxiety Levels: a Systematic Review', Plant Foods for Human Nutrition, vol. 75, pp. 12–23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11130-019-00771-5

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The Effects of Green Tea Amino Acid L-Theanine Consumption on the Ability to Manage Stress and Anxiety Levels: a Systematic Review

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

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