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(Azhar M.Z. & Mohsin S.S.J. Malaysian Journal of Nutrition. 2003. 9(1) : 19-29) By: Dr Azhar MD (Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, University Putra Malaysia)
BEC reduces anxiety and improves mental focusing and functioning.
BEC, placebo (P) and Carageenan was administered to 3 groups (n= 52: P; n=56: BEC; n=65: Carageenan) of highly stressed medical students every morning for 2 weeks in a randomised double-blind placebo controlled study. Carageenan, is a gel based drink with a texture and appearance which mimics BEC, and the Placebo, both acted as controls against 'psychological effects'.
Seven tests were carried out at the beginning of the study, and after completion of the 2-week administration period. These included the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) (identifies states of depression, anxiety and psychiatric morbidity), SF36 Health Status Survey (physical quality of life), Digit span (rapid recall test), Figure construction (recent memory test), Three Minute Memory test (new learning ability test), Mental Compression (reading comprehension) and Mental Arithmetic test (simple arithmetic problem solving)-See glossary for more details.
The results of the tests were analysed using a one-way ANOVA, followed by Tukey's multiple comparison test to determine significant differences between the test scores of between all three BEC, Placebo and Carageenan groups. The probability level of P<0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.
In all tests carried out, there were no statistical differences in test scores between the three groups at the beginning of the study, suggesting equality in the performance of all groups. Following 2-week supplementation with BEC, Placebo or Carageenan, There was a significant improvement in the BEC scores when compared against the placebo and Carageenan groups' test scores, in 6 out of the 7 tests carried out.
This study has shown that BEC can have benefits towards reducing anxiety in highly stressed individuals, which may be due to distraction. The result is an increased potential for mental focusing which can improve test or mental performance by increasing attention and thus reducing mistake making, as was measured in this study with 5 separate mental tests. It is possible that enhancement of the serotonin system or the concentrated supply of proteins, amino acids and peptides (such as carnosine) in BEC are responsible for increasing mental focusing and concentration whilst reducing anxiety concurrently.
BEC reduces anxiety thus leading to increased mental focusing, alertness and better concentration, thus reducing the frequency of mistake making.
By reducing emotional stress, mental function is enhanced, thus aiding one to perform at an optimal level.
Source: Cerebos Pacific Ltd.
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