Stress Relief

Passionflower or Passiflora incarnata, a climbing vine may reach 10 to 30 feet (3 to 9 meters) with white purple-tinged flowers, is widespread in warm temperate and tropical regions of the world. It has been used in traditional medicine as a herbal sedative in North, Central and South Americas, to relieve nervousness and neuralgia. In the sixteenth century Spanish explorers discovered passionflower which was then brought to Europe. The main active constituants are flavonoids, maltol, and indole alkaloids.

Vitamin B6 is a water-soluble vitamin defined as "essential" because the body cannot produce it and does not store it. Vitamin B6 is therefore drawn every day from food, present in different forms: pyridoxine, pyridoxal and pyridoxamine. Vitamin B6 is widespread in the diet, it is mainly found in offal (liver, kidneys), pork and mutton meats, pulses (beans) and cereals. It is also present in fresh green vegetables, bananas, eggs and dairy products.

Vitamin B6 is certainly the best-known of all the vitamins in the B group, particularly for two actions:

• It is an essential source of energy, allowing a better resistance to effort. Vitamin B6 is necessary for the degradation of glycogen into glucose in the liver. Glycogen, a polysaccharide, is the form in which carbohydrates are stored in the body. Glycogen is broken down into glucose molecules when the body needs energy.

• It is often prescribed as a dietary supplement to fight against fatigue and stress.

Vitamin B6 is recognized as essential to the synthesis of certain neurotransmitters such as adrenalin, dopamine and serotonin, mood mediators. It also facilitates the synthesis of taurine, a calming agent allowing the organism to adapt to a situation of stress and to decrease the consequences.

Vitamin B12 also known as cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin essential for normal brain function. Since the body is not able to synthesize it, it is necessary for the body to obtain it from food.

Vitamin B12 is found mainly in food of animal origin: offal, seafood, meat, fish, eggs and dairy products. Vitamin B12 is necessary for the proper functioning of the brain and nervous system in general. It is also essential to maintain the integrity of the nervous system, particularly the myelin sheath that protects the nerves and optimizes their functioning.

Scientific studies that have been conducted on vitamin B12 tend to show that a deficiency can lead to relatively serious disorders such as chronic fatigue and depression.

One active ingredient in passionflower, chrysin has been shown in animal studies to bind to benzodiazepine receptors sites and acts like an agonist for GABA activity. This has an inhibitory effect on the brain which explains the anxiolytic properties of passionflower. A clinical study investigated the effects of passionflower in healthy individuals when anxiety was induced by a simulated public speaking test in several phases. Individuals taking passionflower decreased cardiovascular signals both in single and multiple doses associated with stress of public speaking compared to individuals taking placebo.|1|$Da Silva J.A., et al. (2017). Int. Arch. Med., 10(6), doi: 10.3823/2276.$

A three-month clinical study with healthy participants on the effects of passionflower on emotional status and sleep quality assessed with specific questionnaires, showed a significant improvement on several emotional parameters related to daytime social and mental activites. Yet the sleep score parameters did not show any changes compared to the placebo group.|2|$Takara T., et al. (2019). Funct. Food Health Dis., 9(5), 312-327.$ 

In a more time-limited trial, passionflower was found to reduce stress related to dental anxiety in individuals undergoing periodontal treatment compared to placebo, by supplementing the day prior and 90 minutes before surgery.|3|$Kaviani N., et al. (2013). J Dent Shiraz Univ Med Scien, 14(2), 68-72.$

1 Da Silva J.A., et al. (2017). Effects of the single supplementation and multiple doses of Passiflora incarnata L. on human anxiety: A clinical trial, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomnized. Int. Arch. Med., 10(6), doi: 10.3823/2276.

2 Takara T., et al. (2019). Passionflower extract improves diurnal quality of life in Japanese subjects with anxiety: A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial. Funct. Food Health Dis., 9(5), 312-327.

3 Kaviani N., et al. (2013). The efficacy of Passiflora incarnata Linnaeus in reducing dental anxiety in patients undergoing periodontal treatment. J Dent Shiraz Univ Med Scien, 14(2), 68-72.