L-THEANINE

L-Theanine is a popular nootropic many people don’t realize they regularly consume. It is naturally found in teas like black tea, oolong tea, and green tea, though in low amounts (typically <50mg per serving) [1, 2, 19]. L-Theanine is commonly combined with caffeine to increase cognitive abilities even further than either accomplish alone, while also helping to remove the negative side-effects of caffeine [3, 4, 8, 11]. Some people who never take caffeine due to jitters report that when they take L-Theanine & caffeine in combination they have no negative side effects but a significant increase in focus.

Evidence suggests L-Theanine supplementation shows improvements to different aspects of mood. For example, it shows reductions in stress & anxiety during stressful situations [5, 14], lowered depression ratings [7, 9], and overall calmness [12]. Consistent usage seems to have further long-term improvements to mood in adults who were chronically stressed, but otherwise healthy [9].

L-Theanine is sometimes taken alone at night to help improve sleep onset and quality [6, 7]. Due to it not causing drowsiness, it is safe to consume at any time of day.

How?

L-Theanine easily passes the blood-brain barrier to increase brain activity, specifically within the alpha-band frequency [17]. These alpha brain waves are associated with a more relaxed focus, whereas higher frequencies are the more anxiety induced focus and even lower frequencies are for sleeping & resting.

L-Theanine is a glutamate receptor inhibitor, meaning it reduces the activity of glutamate receptors in the brain [18]. Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter that with too much activity can lead to overstimulation and anxiety. This mechanism of L-Theanine promotes relaxation and reduced stress without causing drowsiness.

Dosages of 100, 200, and 400 mg were tested against a placebo and found that with each 100 mg increase in consumption, a decrease in latency was observed in neural responses of task-relevant stimulus [10]. This decrease in latency is associated with improvements to attention.

Dosage

Most research uses 200 mg, but some explore lower/higher doses depending on their goal (athletic performance, cognitive function, relaxation). A 1:2 ratio of caffeine to L-Theanine has been found to give optimal cognitive improvements compared to taking either alone. ANOO Focus follows the best researched ratio & dosages by including 100 mg of caffeine and 200 mg of L-Theanine.

Typical commercial green tea has about 7.9 mg of L-Theanine in a standard cup [19]. That means to get 200 mg of L-Theanine from green tea, you’d have to drink 25+ cups! Supplementing L-Theanine can help provide the benefits of this natural ingredient at the scientifically researched dosages.

Benefits

• Improve attention, executive function, and memory [3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 15]
• Reduced stress & anxiety [5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14]
• Lowered rating of depression [7, 9]
• Faster reaction times [8, 15]
• Reduce mind-wandering [11]
• Increased amount of work [11]
• Improve sleep quality [6, 7, 13, 16]
• Greater alpha band activity in the brain [17]

References:

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35445053/
[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27019564/
[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18006208/
[4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23107346/
[5] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31758301/
[6] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31623400/
[7] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27396868/
[8] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37815006/
[9] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35565828/
[10] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32777998/
[11] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35111479/
[12] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34562208/
[13] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22214254/
[14] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16930802/
[15] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33751906/
[16] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25759004/
[17] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17272967/
[18] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12596867/
[19] https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2010.08.071