'Sansa' Extract Alleviates Depression

San-sa Extract, Stress and Depression Improvement Effects
Confirmed Through Animal Experiments, Potential for Health Functional Food Development

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] A domestic research team has announced research results showing that hawthorn extract has the effect of alleviating stress and depression. It is expected that hawthorn extract can be utilized as a health functional food related to mental health in the future.

The research team led by Dr. Changho Lee of the Food Function Research Division at the Korea Food Research Institute recently published research results in the international academic journal Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, revealing that hawthorn extract inhibits the activity of monoamine oxidase, thereby alleviating stress and depression.

The research team administered corticosterone to laboratory mice over a long period. The mice exhibited behaviors similar to human depression symptoms such as anxiety, resignation, and cognitive decline. The team then administered hawthorn extract to observe the symptoms. As a result, it was confirmed that hawthorn extract significantly alleviated these harmful factors.

The team analyzed that long-term corticosterone administration damaged the brain nerve cells of the mice and significantly increased the expression of monoamine oxidase and reactive oxygen species from astrocytes, but hawthorn extract suppressed these harmful factors.

Hwang Jintaek, head of the Food Function Research Division, explained, "Hawthorn extract has been used as an alternative therapy for various diseases such as circulatory disorders and heart disease in China and Europe, but research on its efficacy for mental disorders has been insufficient. Based on the research results, if the efficacy of hawthorn extract is proven through additional studies such as human application trials, it could become a promising health functional food material for stress relief and depression improvement."

Meanwhile, according to the National Mental Health Status Report, South Korea ranks second among OECD countries in suicide mortality rates due to mental illness, and the treatment rate of patients is very low. As of 2018, the number of depression patients in South Korea exceeded 700,000, ranking fifth among causes of death for Koreans, and the number of depression patients is rapidly increasing even among the young generation aged 20 to 24.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.