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

University of Canberra
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization
Australian National University Medical School
University of Notre Dame Australia
University of KwaZulu-Natal

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

101 Citations (SciVal)

131 Downloads (Pure)

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.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

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
Accepted author manuscript, 616 KB

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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

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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