Effects of Continuous Intake of Rosemary Extracts on Mental Health in Working Generation Healthy Japanese Men: Post-Hoc Testing of a Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

We previously performed a 4 week interventional trial that suggested that continuous intake of rosemary extract improves the mood states, fatigue, and cognitive function of working generation healthy adult Japanese men. However, the severity of depression in participants in our previous study was relatively mild. Therefore, in the present study, a post-hoc analysis of our previous study was conducted, limited to participants whose total mood disturbance (TMD) scores, which indicate greater mood disturbance, were above the median at baseline, to evaluate whether rosemary extract was effective for individuals with poor mental health. Following the intervention, the scores of TMD and “Confusion-Bewilderment” were significantly decreased (both p < 0.05), and scores of “Vigor-Activity” were significantly increased in the rosemary group (n = 8) compared with those in the control group (n = 13; p < 0.01). When comparing the scores from pre- and post-intervention, significant improvements in “Tension-Anxiety”, “Vigor-Activity”, “Fatigue on awakening”, “Daytime sleepiness”, and “Psychomotor speed” were observed in the rosemary group only (all p < 0.05). Based on these results, it was expected that rosemary extracts were effective for improving the mental energy and sleep quality of work-age men with poor mental health.

Neuroprotective Potential of Aromatic Herbs: Rosemary, Sage, and Lavender

“…Its mechanisms could be mediated by anti-inflammatory and antioxidative (Song et al, 2016). Several other studies also proved the positive effects of rosemary or its active compounds in cognitive disorders (Pengelly et al, 2012;Moss, 2017;Araki et al, 2020).…”

Possibility for Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Dementia Using Three Kinds of Brown Rice Blends after High-Pressure Treatment

“…As biofunctional components to improve the cognitive ability, astaxanthin and sesamin [64], green tea catechins [65], rosemary extracts [66], chlorogenic acids [4], L-theanine [67], astaxanthin and tocotrienol [68] have been reported. It seems that the main component in our sample meal to improve cognitive ability would be anthocyanin because many papers reported the important role of its anti-oxidative capacity, the same as with propolis [69,70], astaxanthin [67,68], green tea catechins [65] and chlorogenic acids [4].…”

Odabir autohtonih aromatičnih i ljekovitih trajnica za uređenje terapijskih urbanih prostora na Mediteranu

“…Njihova aromatičnost unaprjeđuje mentalnu percepciju i pamćenje te ulijeva osjećaj samopouzdanja. Istraživanjima je utvrđeno da ružmarin karakteriziraju D. Krstonošić, Franciska Erdelj, Ž. Škvorc, K. Sever / Odabir autohtonih aromatičnih i ljekovitih trajnica za uređenje terapijskih urbanih prostora... / Glasilo Future ( 2021) 4 (2-3) 43-64 antidepresivna svojstva te uspješno pomaže pri oslobađanju od umora i napetosti (Araki et al, 2020).…”