Abstract
Despite the sample size limitation, this study provides the first evidence of an acute anxiolytic effect of ascorbic acid. Broader population studies are required to evaluate the clinical relevance of presented data.
Highlights
Anxiety is characterized by apprehension, worry and tension that may be understood as a physiolog‐ ical, adaptive response to potential threats (Perusini and Fanselow 2015)
Place‐ bo and ascorbic acid groups did not differ at baseline in terms of: gender, self‐reported use of psychotropic medications, and scores in the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scales (HADS) anxiety and depression sub‐ scales, T‐anxiety and S‐anxiety scales, and Visual Analogue Mood Scale (VAMS) and its factor subscales
The present study employed a double‐blind, ran‐ domized, placebo‐controlled design to evaluate the effects of a single oral dose of ascorbic acid (1000 mg) over anxiety and other emotional states, as measured by State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and VAMS, in a non‐clinical sample of young graduate students
Summary
Anxiety is characterized by apprehension, worry and tension that may be understood as a physiolog‐ ical, adaptive response to potential threats (Perusini and Fanselow 2015). Anxiety disorders are classified by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM‐V) in separation anxiety disorder, selective mutism, specific phobia, social phobia, panic disorder, agoraphobia, and generalized anxiety disor‐ der (American Psychiatric Association 2013). These dis‐ orders are more frequent in women than in men (Asher et al 2017, Li and Graham 2017), and are well known to impair quality of life and performance at work, being highly costly to society (Baxter et al 2014). Relevant anxiety is present in a myriad of mental illnesses, mood disorders. Anxiety can be studied within a state‐trait paradigm, in which trait anxiety represents a general‐ ized, enduring individual predisposition to experience anxiety, while state anxiety consists of acute, transito‐ ry emotion (Endler and Kocovski 2001)
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