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Beta-sitosterol may relieve anxiety: Mouse study Scientists say the plant-derived substance may play a key role in reducing anxiety levels in humans.
Israeli researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science found that a plant-derived substance may play a key role in reducing anxiety levels.
Beta-sitosterol is one of a many organic compounds found in plants that have a structure like that of body-produced cholesterol. It’s found in a number of foods such as avocado, nuts, and grains, and is also sold as a dietary supplement intended mainly to reduce cholesterol levels.
The research
The new study, published in
Cell Reports Medicine, piggybacks off of research from several years ago, which examined international genomic databases to find existing drugs or compounds that mimicked a certain gene expression that would help induce “calmness.” The search led to a series of behavioral experiments which found that beta-sitosterol was able to produc
Illustrative image: a bootle of Prozac (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)
Israeli scientists say they may have identified a way to reduce dosage in humans of the antidepressant fluoxetine widely sold as Prozac which could cut down on unwanted side effects.
The team from the Biomolecular Sciences Department at the Weizmann Institute of Science found that beta-sitosterol, a plant-derived substance sold as a dietary supplement and used largely by people trying to reduce cholesterol levels, lowered anxiety levels in mice. The substance is naturally found in avocados, pistachios, almonds and other nuts though in quantities far smaller than those that showed an effect on the mice.