Amongst individuals searching for pure well being cures, barley grass merchandise have been gaining recognition due to its big range of vitamins. Normally consumed as a juice powder stirred into water or a smoothie or as dried entire leaf powder, the barley leaves are wealthy in nutritional vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants—like flavonoids (for instance, saponarin, lutonarin, Bz-TMF, and some others that now we have highlighted in our blogs).
Normally, individuals consider barley grass merchandise for advantages like detoxing, growing power ranges, and serving to with irritation . However through the years, some analysis in lab mice suggests in addition they play a job in serving to alleviate signs of melancholy which can be attributable to stress.
Despair is a really advanced situation. Despite the fact that it impacts thousands and thousands of individuals worldwide it’s nonetheless very troublesome to deal with and overcome. It is typically linked to emphasize, oxidative injury, and imbalances in mind chemical substances like serotonin and different neurotrophic components. (Although the speculation of serotonin and melancholy is fallacious and was principally made as much as promote medication.) And talking of medication, there are some massive money-makers on the market for treating melancholy, however one of many negative effects of those medication is melancholy and suicidal tendencies. So, plenty of individuals like you’re searching for out pure alternate options. May barley grass assist?
On this weblog, we’ll have a look at three intriguing research with lab mice that present some antidepressant-like results when the mice are given barley grass powder. Now these are simply animal experiments, so they don’t seem to be immediately relevant to people, however they do offer you a little bit perception as to how barley grass juice powder may assist. So let’s take a look at these research.
Research 1: Barley and Wheat Grass Extracts Assist Mice Deal with Stress-Induced Despair
Barley grass powder merchandise have develop into widespread in Nepal. This prompted a examine in 2022 that was printed within the Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Drugs. On this examine the researchers explored the results of aqueous extracts from barley and wheat grass on Swiss albino mice subjected to stress-induced melancholy. The researchers hypothesized that the antioxidants within the extract would have antidepressant properties.
- Strategies: Mice had been divided into teams and uncovered to emphasize. They obtained both the extracts (400 mg/kg), a normal antidepressant (imipramine, 100 mg/kg), or a management. Behavioral exams included the pressured swim take a look at (FST), tail suspension take a look at (TST), and elevated plus maze (EPM) to evaluate immobility (a proxy for despair) and nervousness.
- Key Findings: The extracts contained bioactive compounds like alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols, and tannins, with excessive complete phenolic and flavonoid content material contributing to sturdy antioxidant exercise. In behavioral exams, handled mice confirmed considerably lowered immobility time in FST and TST (p < 0.05 to p < 0.01) and spent extra time within the open arms of the EPM (p < 0.01), indicating lowered nervousness and depression-like behaviors in comparison with the harassed management mice.
- Implications: This examine means that barley grass and wheat grass extracts have antidepressant exercise in them. This may be as a result of antioxidant polyphenols and flavonoids that naturally happen in these vegetation.
Research 2: Barley Leaf Extract helps Mice Overcome Stress within the Pressured Swimming Take a look at
A Japanese analysis group at Chiba College in Japan printed their preliminary findings in 2012. This examine in Pharmacognosy Analysis targeted particularly on younger inexperienced barley leaf powder and its antidepressant potential in mice utilizing the pressured swimming take a look at, which is a typical mannequin for screening antidepressants.
- Strategies: Mice had been orally given barley leaf extract (400 or 1000 mg/kg) or imipramine (100 mg/kg) (a tricyclic antidepressant) one hour earlier than swimming periods over three days. Immobility length was measured, and mind mRNA ranges of nerve development issue (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic issue (BDNF), and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) had been analyzed within the hippocampus and cortex.
- Key Findings: Each doses of barley leaf considerably lowered immobility time (indicating an antidepressant-like impact), just like imipramine. Stress elevated NGF mRNA within the hippocampus by 31%, however barley leaf moderated this in a dose-dependent means. BDNF and GR ranges weren’t considerably altered, and serum corticosterone (a stress hormone) remained unchanged by the extract.
- Implications: The researchers suggest that barley leaf’s results would possibly contain modulating NGF within the mind, probably providing safety to nerve cells in opposition to stress with out immediately impacting the stress hormone axis. Just like the earlier examine, this one additionally factors to secondary metabolite molecules (similar to polyphenols and flavonoids) as antioxidants in barley grass as main components in altering the mice’s conduct.
Research 3: Protecting Results of Barley Leaf Extract on Stress and Mind Well being
A follow-up examine from the identical analysis group in Japan was printed in 2015 in Pharmacognosy Journal. This analysis examined younger inexperienced barley leaf’s capability to guard in opposition to restraint stress in feminine mice. They measured voluntary wheel operating conduct (harassed mice do not run as a lot) and measurement of mRNA ranges of BDNF within the hippocampus. Mind-derived neurotrophic issue (BDNF) is like development issue for nerve cells. It’s essential for neuron survival and infrequently lowered in melancholy.
- Strategies: Mice underwent restraint stress for 3 hours each day over 5 days, with barley leaf (400 or 1000 mg/kg) or a constructive management (clotiazepam, 10 mg/kg) given orally beforehand. Wheel-running exercise (a measure of motivation and anti-stress adaptation) was tracked, together with serum corticosterone, and BDNF mRNA (together with variants like exon IV).
- Key Findings: Stress decreased wheel-running and hippocampal BDNF mRNA (complete, exon I, and exon IV) as anticipated. Barley leaf (particularly 400 mg/kg) prevented the drop in exercise and considerably boosted BDNF exon IV mRNA (p < 0.05). It did not have an effect on corticosterone ranges, suggesting that the results had been unbiased of the principle stress hormone pathway (the battle or flight pathway talked about a lot).
- Implications: By preserving BDNF, barley grass might assist preserve hippocampal well being below stress, probably conserving depression-like states at bay. The examine highlights its function in selling resilience with out stimulating the nervous system, as there was no hyperactivity or additional wheel-running conduct in non-stressed mice given the barley leaf extract,
What Does This Imply for People?
Taken collectively, these mice research recommend three ways in which Barley Grass extracts and juices may have antidepressant-like properties:
1. Discount of oxidative stress via antioxidants.
2. Normalization of mind components like nerve development issue (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic issue, BDNF, which assist nerve well being.
3. Enhancement of conduct outcomes when uncovered to emphasize with out toxicity or overstimulation.
However we nonetheless should be cautious about extrapolating these outcomes. These are simply mice and the leads to mice do not actually translate to people very effectively. These outcomes are preliminary. Despair in individuals is rather more sophisticated than stress-induced melancholy in mice. It’s important to take many components under consideration, together with genetics, life-style components, and the surroundings—issues that are not actually explored in these easy research.
Nonetheless, we do know that barley grass is usually protected and usually useful to individuals, whether or not you are in Nepal, Japan, or right here within the USA. So should you’re coping with melancholy, you could need to consider using one thing like BarleyMax simply to enrich no matter else you are doing. It is not an alternative choice to different issues, but it surely may very well be useful to include it into your food regimen. It simply would possibly assist you to overcome stress and really feel higher.
