Background and Objectives: In recent years, the use of dietary supplements to combat anxiety has increased. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the effect of short-term green tea supplementation on serum cortisol and serotonin levels in young anxious women.
Materials and Methods: In this randomized clinical trial, 20 young anxious women were randomly assigned to either a control or a green-tea supplementation group. Participants in the supplementation group consumed 1000 mg of green tea daily for one week. Heart rate, systolic blood pressure, rate-pressure product, serum cortisol and serotonin levels were assessed before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed using paired and independent t-tests at a significance level of 0.05.
Results: The findings indicated no significant differences between the control and supplementation groups for changes in heart rate, systolic blood pressure and cortisol levels (P = 0.09, P = 0.15 and P = 0.96, respectively). However, green tea supplementation significantly decreased the rate-pressure product and significantly increased serum serotonin levels
(P = 0.05, P < 0.0001, respectively).
Conclusions: Overall, short-term green tea supplementation seemed to contribute to anxiety management in young anxious women by decreasing the rate-pressure product and increasing serum serotonin levels.