Effects of a fixed herbal drug combination (Ze 185) to an experimental acute stress setting in healthy men - An explorative randomized placebo-controlled double-blind study

Background: Considering the negative effects of stress on health, there is a growing interest in stress-reducing interventions. The present study examines the effects of a fixed combination of valerian, passion flower, lemon balm, and butterbur extracts (Ze 185) on biological and affective responses to a standardized psychosocial stress paradigm.Purpose: The aim of the present study was to investigate the efficacy of Ze 185 on cortisol and anxiety stress responses to acute psychosocial stress in healthy subjects.Study Design: This study was a randomized, placebo-controlled, double blind study with 3 parallel groups. Methods: 72 healthy male participants were randomized to 3 groups (Ze 185, placebo or no treatment) during 4 days prior to a standardized psychosocial stress paradigm. Principle outcomes were salivary cortisol and self-reported anxiety responses to stress assessed at the fourth day.Results: The stress paradigm induced significant and large cortisol and self-reported anxiety responses. Groups did not differ significantly in their salivary cortisol response to stress, but participants in the Ze 185 condition showed significantly attenuated responses in self-reported anxiety in comparison to placebo (F(3, 41)= 3.33, p = 0.03) and no treatment (F(3, 43) = 2.77, p = 0.05).Conclusion: The results show that Ze 185 significantly attenuated the subjective emotional stress response during an acute stress situation, without affecting biological stress responses. Given that a circumscribed biological stress response is to be considered as an adaptive mechanism, Ze 185 reduces self-reported anxiety response to stress without affecting assumingly adaptive biological stress responses.