Functional foods for dysfunctional times
People pop supplements for anxiety, with little evidence they work
The reasons I’m stressed out are your reasons, too: Too little time, and even less money. Deadlines. Relationships of all types. Aches and pains, insomnia. The general state of the world. It’s all a bit much, isn’t it?
I could use a drink. Not that kind of a drink. No, the drinks I’ve found myself chugging as if I were a college freshman on spring break don’t have any booze, but they do have adaptogenic mushroom powder. Or cannabidiol, commonly known as CBD. Or L-Theanine.
They might be called Neuro Bliss or Zenify, or have names that issue directives: Get Happy or Just Chill. (Funny, because typically, ordering someone to “Just chill” has the opposite effect.) There are candies and brownies, too, all marketed as calming or anxiety-alleviating, with detailed explanations of how the herbal supplements, amino acids or compounds within can put us at ease. In the era of functional foods — where we eat not just for pleasure, but also to balance our gut flora and reduce inflammation — we expect what we eat and drink to heal our bodies. Now, we want it to soothe our troubled minds, too.
You probably didn’t need a study to tell you Americans are stressed, but there are plenty. According to Gallup, about eight in 10 of them are stressed out. The American Psychological Association’s 2018 annual stress study found millennials and Generation Z have the highest reported levels of stress. While work and money were top stressors, 69 per cent of Americans said contemplating the nation’s future causes them stress, a significant increase from 2017. And stress takes its toll on our bodies: It can increase our risk of heart attacks, wreak havoc on our digestion, inhibit our sex drives and weaken our immune systems. No wonder stress-reducing food is a growing category. Mintel, the global research firm, included such foods in its 2018 trend predictions.
“We want simple solutions to complex problems,” said Drew Ramsey, psychiatrist and author of Eat to Beat Depression. “So the idea that your anxiety could be controlled by a formulated beverage with vitamins or minerals, or a CBD-infused coconut oil” may be appealing to people looking for a quick fix. Pop some CBD gummy bears from Sunday Scaries, named after a meme about the dread of anticipating a week of work or school. Wash it down with Zenify, a carbonated drink that contains L-Theanine and the neurotransmitter GABA. Somewhere on the label for all of these products is the fine print: “These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease.”
It’s hard to keep track of all the ingredients reputed to alleviate stress, but they fall into roughly three categories. There are the herbal remedies: Mostly teas, with such ingredients as lemon balm, lavender, camomile, rooibos, St. John’s wort and ashwagandha, an herb used in Ayurvedic medicine. Many of those ingredients have been a part of folk medicine for centuries, but studies on their efficacy have produced variable results.
Then, there are products that use L-Theanine, an amino acid found in green tea. L-Theanine is “the main driver of our calming effect,” said Andrew Goldman, a physician and co-founder of Good Day Chocolates, a line of functional sweets that purport to promote sleep, energy, relaxation and digestion.
Those ingredients may soon be rivalled by another huge trend predicted for 2019: CBD. The compound comes from hemp, but it does not contain Tetrahydrocannabino l, or THC, the marijuana compound that makes people feel high. A 2015 article in the journal Neurotherapeutics said CBD “has considerable potential as a treatment for multiple anxiety disorders,” though there has been limited research so far, and many more studies are needed. With the passage of the Farm Bill last month, CBD will come into wider use.
The first time Mike Sill, cofounder of Sunday Scaries, tried CBD, “We immediately just felt that cool, calm sense of relief. Sort of a mild euphoria.” He and his business partner wanted to build a CBD “lifestyle” brand geared toward their demographic: “Millennials can relate to it.”
These brands make mentalhealth relief seem easy — just one sip away. They’re cheaper than a therapist and they don’t have a waiting list.
This trend is “consumer driven and it comes out of dissatisfaction with traditional pharmacology,” said Susana Galle, a psychologist, certified naturopath and clinical nutritionist who often recommends supplements for her patients.
But Ramsey thinks supplement brands overpromise.
“I get very concerned as a clinician when I see people spending hundreds of dollars with great conviction on supplements and functional foods that have zero evidence that they’re helpful, instead of spending their very precious time and energy on treatments that we know work,” Ramsey said.
There are risks, he said. Not just wasting money, but delaying more effective treatment.
“It trivializes mental health,” Ramsey said.