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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Kyoko Kuroda Æ Naohiko Inoue Æ Yuriko Ito
Kikue Kubota Æ Akio Sugimoto Æ Takami Kakuda
Tohru Fushiki
Sedative effects of the jasmine tea odor and (
R
)-(
)-linalool,
one of its major odor components, on autonomic nerve activity
and mood states
Accepted: 9 December 2004 / Published online: 23 June 2005
Springer-Verlag 2005
Abstract We investigated the effects of the odor of jas-
mine tea on autonomic nerve activity and mood states in
a total of 24 healthy volunteers. We used the odor of
jasmine tea at the lowest concentration that could be
detected by each subject but that did not elicit any
psychological effects. R–R intervals and the POMS test
were measured before and after inhalation of the odors
for 5 min. Both jasmine tea and laven der odo rs at per-
ceived similar intensity caused significant decreases in
heart rate and significant increases in spectral integrated
values at high-frequency component in comparison with
the control (P < 0.05). In the POMS tests, these odors
produced calm and vigorous mood states. We also ex-
amined the effects of (R)-())-linalool, one of its major
odor components, at the same concentration as in the
tea, and (S)-(+)-linalool. Only (R)-())-linalool elicited a
significant decrease in heart rate (P < 0.05) and an in-
crease in high -frequency compone nt in comparison with
the controls, and produced calm and vigorous mood
states. Thus, the low intensity of jasmine tea odo r has
sedative effects on both autonomic nerve activity and
mood states, and (R)-())-linalool, one of its compo-
nents, can mimic these effects.
Keywords Jasmine tea Æ (R)-( ))-linalool Æ Odor Æ
Autonomic nervous activity Æ Mood states
Introduction
Tea is one of the most popular beverages, and it is con-
sumed in various ways in more than 300 forms. The
pharmacological and therapeutic effects of teas have been
reported since the 1970s (Chen 1992). It has been observed
that tea extracts have anti-carcinogenic (Wang et al.
1988), antimutagenic (Kada et al. 1985), antioxidative
(Ho et al. 1992; Yoshino et al. 1994) and hypocho leste-
rolemic effects (Yang and Koo 1997). Jasmine tea, one of
the most popular forms drunk in China, has been reported
to share some of these effects (Yang and Koo 1997; Zhang
et al. 1997). People not only consume jasmine tea but also
enjoy its characteristic odor.
Some of the odors of essential oils are used in the
treatment of depression, anxiety and some types of
cognitive disorders in aromatherapy (Buchbauer and
Jirovetz 1994; Buchbauer 1996). Moreover, some odors
produce physiological changes in parameters such as
blood pressure (Nagai et al. 2000; Suzuki and Aoki
1994), muscle tension (Schwartz 1979), blink magnitude
(Ehrlichman et al. 1997), skin temperature, skin blood
flow, electrodermal activity, heart rate (HR; Alaoui-
Ismaili et al. 1997; Brauchli et al. 1995), brain wave
pattern (Lorig 1989; Torii et al.1988; Van Toller et al.
1993) and sleep time (Tsuchiya et al. 1992). The effects of
odors on autonomic functions and mood states appear
to have two mechanisms. One is pharmacological via
direct interactions between odo r molecules and receptors
or nerve endings, and the other is psychological via the
subjective effects of odor perception (Heuberger et al.
2001; Jellinek 1997).
In a previous study, we investigated the effects of the
odor of jasmine tea on autonomic nerve activity at high
and low concentrations, rated subjectively as high and low
intensity (Inoue et al. 2003). Inhalation of this odor at low
K. Kuroda Æ N. Inoue Æ T. Fushiki (&)
Laboratory of Nutrition Chemistry,
Division of Food Science and Biotechnology,
Graduate School of Agriculture,
Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa Oiwake-cho,
Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
E-mail: d53765@sakura.kudpc.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Tel.: +81-75-753-6261
Fax: +81-75-753-6264
Y. Ito Æ K. Kubota
Laboratory of Food Chemistry,
Ochanomizu University, 2-1-1 Ohtsuka,
Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8610, Japan
A. Sugimoto Æ T. Kakuda
Central Research Institute, Itoen Ltd,
21 Mekami, Sagara-cho, Haibara-gun,
Shizuoka 421-0516, Japan
Eur J Appl Physiol (2005) 95: 107–114
DOI 10.1007/s00421-005-1402-8
