The market
for herbal-based products as life and wellbeing enhancers has grown
exponentially in the last twenty years—irrespective of economic down turn and
recession. However, the efficacy of many of these products remains untested and
claims unverified. Given the rapidly increasing value that is placed on herbal
interventions by the general public it is becoming imperative that scientific
assessment using well established measures and robust techniques is undertaken.
Rosemary (Rosmarinus
officinalis) is a woody, perennial herb native to the Mediterranean region.
Historically it has been associated with memory and more recently Rosemary
aroma has been shown to deliver improvements in prospective memory, and visual
and numerical memory. Also, some studies have found rosemary aroma improved
aspects of performance, and produced feelings of increased alertness and
reduced anxiety.
In this study, the
authors investigated the potential impact of the acute ingestion of No. 1
Rosemary water—a commercially available carbonated water containing an extract
of rosemary. Twenty healthy adults were randomly allocated to consume either
330 ml of No. 1 Rosemary water or plain carbonated water. They then completed a
series of subjective measures and cognitive tasks including a fifteen-minute
session on a stress inducing multi-tasking framework, followed by a second
completion of the subjective measures. Heart rate and blood pressure were
monitored throughout the procedure. Given the pilot nature of the study,
analysis of the data eschewed significance testing for the calculation of
Cohen’s d measure of effect sizes.
The results
revealed a number of small enhancement effects on cognition, consistent with
those found previously for the inhalation of the aroma of rosemary essential
oil, and oral administration of dried herb. Of particular interest here were
the reduced subjective evaluations of stress, and the blunted physiological
reactivity noted for heart rate and blood pressure, which represented the novel
findings in this area.
In conclusion, the current study adds to the growing evidence in support of the potential for
enhancing memory-based aspects of cognitive functioning, improving mood
especially in terms of subjective alertness and reduced stress, and perhaps
even delivering cardiovascular benefits as well. Future research in this area
would benefit from inclusion of bioavailability data regarding the absorption
of identified active components in No. 1 Rosemary Water, in order to facilitate
correlations with performance, mood and physiological data to be calculated.
Article by Mark
Moss, et al, from Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Full access: http://mrw.so/4x3P2N
Image by Alice Henneman, from
Flickr-cc.
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