Published in the peer‑reviewed journal ‘Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology’, the randomized, double‑blind, placebo‑controlled study evaluated the acute effects of the patent-pending Zensera ingredient (300 mg) on mood and cognitive performance.
The research was designed to assess whether Zensera enables, on the same day of use, healthy stressed individuals to perform better cognitively with simulated real-life stress, rather than relying on conventional approaches that typically promote sedation or relaxation.
Findings indicated Zensera may help individuals under moderate stress perform better and feel better during challenging executive function tasks, particularly later in the day.
While lemon balm extract has traditionally been associated with calming effects, “there has been limited high-quality clinical evidence demonstrating its impact under acute stress conditions, particularly on overloaded cognitive performance mimicking a stressful day,” according to Romain le Cozannet, PhD, mind and energy category technical leader at Givaudan.
“Most prior research has focused on relaxation or mood outcomes at rest,” he told NI. “This study therefore aimed to determine whether lemon balm could support cognitive function during real-world stress exposure on the same day of use.
“This focus is more relevant to the challenges of modern consumers, such as work-related pressure and demanding days.”
Addressing a key concern
Globally, consumer concern about mental health remains high, with stress, anxiety, and sleep dominating the category, especially amongst younger generations and female consumers.
Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.) contains a range of compounds, including polyphenols such as rosmarinic acid, essential oils and triterpenes.
Numerous health benefits have been associated with lemon balm such as reducing anxiety and enhancing sleep and mood through its action on several neurochemical circuits, including GABAergic and cholinergic pathways, as well as having an indirect action on the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenocortical axis via actions such as cortisol modulation. All of these pathways are associated with supporting a calm state, psychologically and/or physiologically.
Study findings
A total of 130 participants were enrolled and randomly allocated to Zensera or placebo group and all followed a low polyphenol diet for the 48 hours before test days.
Cognitive function, mood, heart rate and blood pressure measured at baseline and at one, three and five hours post-treatment.
At the start of the day, participants completed their subjective ratings of overall calmness, mental fatigue, Bond Lader and Stress Visual Analogue Scales, Subjective Satisfaction before completing the baseline cognitive battery of tests. Bond Lader and Stress Visual Analogue Scale measures were collected again immediately after completing the cognitive tasks, alongside blood pressure measurements.
The allocated treatment was consumed. At 1, 3 and 5 hours, participants completed a battery of cognitive tasks, with Bond Lader, Stress Visual Analogue Scales collected before and after these tasks.
At the end of the 5 hour tests, subjective ratings of overall calmness and mental fatigue were collected.
Resulting data from the 106 participants who completed the study indicated that subjects demonstrated better performance on the most demanding cognitive challenges compared to placebo, at five hours post‑consumption.
Further analysis confirmed that performance gains correlated with increased calmness and contentment, indicating a link between emotional steadiness and cognitive efficiency.
Importantly, participants receiving Zensera also showed a trend toward better recovery of calmness between periods of cognitive demand.
The authors were interested to observe the effects at five hours, when bioavailability of rosmarinic acid in lemon balm has been shown to drop from its peak at one hour. This suggests that the observed effects may not depend solely on rosmarinic acid and that other components in this Zensera may have a prolonged impact on cognition and mood, they reported.
“In contrast to previous studies, the present study showed a link within the Zensera group between cognitive performance under stress and calmness at five hours,” explained Dr. le Cozannet. “Earlier research on lemon balm has reported mixed results, with either reduced performance at later time points or benefits appearing at different doses or timings, making findings difficult to interpret. In this study, participants taking Zensera performed better on demanding cognitive tasks five hours after intake compared to placebo. At the same time, feelings of calmness and contentedness were linked to better cognitive performance, but only in the Zensera group.”
Limitations noted included the lack of biochemical sample collection
Source: Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology. doi: 10.1177/20451253261415706, “The acute effects of Zensera™ (Melissa officinalis L.) extract on mood and cognitive performance during cognitive overload: a randomised placebo-controlled, double-blind study in healthy young adults with moderate subjective stress”, Authors: Mathews, I., et al
