L-Theanine: Helping Depression Naturally

For many people struggling through depression, antidepressants aren’t enough to do the job. Adding L-theanine, an amino acid in green tea, may be the natural boost you need.

L-theanine has proven its worth in treating stress and insomnia. But what about depression?

This new double-blind study wanted to see if adding L-theanine could help people with depression by adding it to their antidepressant. The study included 50 people who were on Zoloft (sertraline). Half of them took 100mg a day of sertraline alone, the other half added 200mg a day of L-theanine to the drug. They were assessed with the Hamilton depression rating scale at 2, 4 and 6 weeks.

There was already a significantly greater improvement in the L-theanine group by 2 weeks. That’s very fast acting. The significantly greater improvement was still evident at weeks 4 and 6. Every person who was getting L-theanine responded in the 6 week study. Adding L-theanine was better than Zoloft alone for response and remission rates.

Adding L-theanine did not add any side effects: the rate was the same in the two groups, testifying to the safety of L-theanine.

This study shows that adding L-theanine is a safe, effective way to improve response to the SSRI antidepressant Zoloft, suggesting an antidepressant ability for L-theanine.

L-theanine is found almost exclusively in green tea. So, this new study may help explain a recent meta-analysis of 8 studies (J Nutr Sci Vitaminol 2022;68:155-61) that found that drinking green tea reduces the risk of depression by a significant 34%.

J Affect Disord. 2023 Jul 15;333:38-43.

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For much more on preventing and treating depression, see our book The Family Naturopathic Encyclopedia.

For comprehensive natural help with depression, make an appointment to see Linda Woolven now. Linda’s clinic is now open for virtual appointments.

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