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Background/objectives: Chronic stress is a pervasive issue affecting individuals worldwide, with profound implications for mental and physical well-being. Panax ginseng, a widely used herbal supplement renowned for its adaptogenic properties, is hypothesized to alleviate some stress effects. This study aims to evaluate the impact of hydroponically grown Red Panax ginseng root powder with a high level of rare ginsenosides supplementation on perceived stress levels, as well as on the emotional and cognitive abilities of moderately stressed participants. Methods: A randomized, double-blind, controlled study was conducted with 149 participants. They were randomly assigned to either the Ginseng supplementation group (N = 72; 200 mg/day, including 24 mg of ginsenosides) or the Placebo group (N = 77). The intervention lasted for 3 weeks. The perceived stress level was measured at baseline (D0) and at the end of the intervention (D21) using a validated scale (PSS) alongside assessments of emotional (BDI and PANAS) and cognitive abilities (CANTAB subtests). Results: Significantly larger decreases in the PSS and negative affect score (PANAS) were observed following intervention in the Ginseng group compared with the Placebo group. Compared to the Placebo group, participants in the Ginseng group showed faster response latencies during a spatial planning task (OTSC subtest). In addition, there was a marginally larger decrease in the BDI score in the Ginseng group. Conclusions: These results confirm the emotional and cognitive benefits of Red Panax ginseng in moderately stressed adults and pave the way for further exploration of its use as a promising approach to improving psychological well-being.

Background/Objectives: The global prevalence of mental health disorders, particularly anxiety and depression, has increased significantly, with rates further elevated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Conventional pharmacological treatments, while effective, often lead to side effects that can impact patient adherence and quality of life. This has driven interest in safer, natural adjunctive therapies. Crocus sativus L. (Iridaceae) (saffron) and Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi (Lamiaceae) (scutellaria) have individually shown potential, in humans and animals, respectively, as mood regulators, with bioactive compounds that modulate neurotransmitter systems and possess anti-inflammatory and anxiolytic effects. This study aimed (1) to explore the efficacy and safety of scutellaria extracts in humans and (2) to test a possible synergistic effect when combining scutellaria and saffron on mood regulation in individuals experiencing mild-to-moderate depressive symptoms. Methods: In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 180 participants with mild-to-moderate depressive symptoms were assigned to receive either scutellaria extract alone (SCUTELL’UP^®), saffron extract alone (SAFFR’ACTIV^®), a combination of scutellaria and saffron extracts (SAFFR’UP^®), or a placebo for six weeks. The primary outcome was assessed using a standardized depression scale (Beck Depression Inventory). The secondary outcomes, including anxiety, emotional state, well-being level, and sleep quality, were all assessed using validated questionnaires. Safety and tolerability were evaluated throughout the study period. Results: The results confirmed the beneficial effects of saffron extract on depressive and anxious symptoms, as well as its role in improving sleep quality. For the first time in humans, scutellaria extract demonstrated a positive effect on mood regulation. Furthermore, a synergistic effect of the combination of these two extracts was identified, leading to enhanced improvements in depressive and anxious symptoms and emotional well-being among individuals with mild-to-moderate depression, compared to the placebo group. Minimal adverse effects were reported across all treatment groups. Conclusions: This natural adjunctive nutritional strategy offers a promising alternative for individuals seeking safer options for mental health support. Further research is warranted to exclude potential long-term side effects and to explore potential mechanisms of this combined supplementation.

Malnutrition is a highly prevalent condition in older adults. It is associated with low muscle mass and function and increased occurrence of health problems. Maintaining an adequate nutritional status as well as a sufficient nutrient intake in older people is therefore essential to address this public health problem. For this purpose, protein supplementation is known to prevent the loss of muscle mass during aging, and the consumption of various pomegranate extracts induces numerous health benefits, mainly through their antioxidant properties. However, to our knowledge, no study has to date investigated the impact of their combination on the level of malnutrition in older people. The objective of this preliminary study was thus to evaluate the safety of a combination of protein and a pomegranate extract in healthy subjects aged 65 years or more during a 21-day supplementation period. Thirty older participants were randomly assigned to receive protein and a pomegranate extract (Test group) or protein and maltodextrin (Control group) during a 21-day intervention period. The primary outcomes were the safety and tolerability of the supplementation defined as the occurrence of adverse events, and additional secondary outcomes included physical examination and hematological and biochemical parameters. No serious adverse events were reported in any group. Changes in physical, hematological, and biochemical parameters between the initial screening and the end of the study were equivalent in both groups, except for glutamate-pyruvate transaminase (GPT) and prealbumin, for which a decrease was observed only in the Test group. Our initial findings support the safety of the combination of protein and a pomegranate extract in healthy elderly people. Future clinical trials on a larger sample and a longer period are needed to determine the efficacy of this combination.

Background: Heart rate variability (HRV) is considered as an index of both physical and emotional health, and biofeedback aiming to increase the level of HRV has demonstrated extensive beneficial effects. Although HRV biofeedback is commonly and reliably applied in adults, the use of this technique, alone or in addition to other treatments, in children and adolescents has not been widely explored to date. Methods: This systematic review following PRISMA guidelines covers all human studies using HRV biofeedback in children and adolescents. A literature search was conducted in PsycINFO, PubMed and Scopus, and a standardized methodological quality assessment was performed. Results: Results showed the efficiency of HRV biofeedback sessions with children and adolescents to reduce physical and mental health‐related symptoms and enhance well‐being. Conclusions: These findings underline the therapeutic value of using HRV biofeedback as a complement to more conventional behavioural and cognitive interventions to help children to manage stress and/or pain. Capitalizing on the identified strengths and shortcomings of available results, we propose research avenues as well as evidence‐based clinical guidelines for using HRV biofeedback in clinical paediatric settings.

Rationale Attitudes towards alcohol constitute a central factor to predict future consumption. Previous studies showed that young adults with risky alcohol consumption present positive implicit and explicit attitudes towards alcohol. Objectives It appears crucial to disentangle the relationship between specific consumption patterns (e.g., binge drinking or moderate daily drinking) and these alcohol-related attitudes. Methods We compared implicit/explicit positive attitudes towards alcohol among 101 university students distributed in 4 groups [control low-drinking participants (CP), daily drinkers (DD), low binge drinkers (LBD), high binge drinkers (HBD)] differing regarding alcohol consumption profile, to explore the impact of consumption characteristics on alcohol-related attitudes. Participants performed a visual version of the Implicit Association Test (evaluating implicit attitudes towards alcohol), followed by self-reported measures of explicit alcohol-related attitudes and expectancies. Results HBD and DD (but not LBD) presented stronger implicit positive attitudes towards alcohol than CP. All drinkers explicitly considered alcohol consumption as pleasant, but only DD qualified it as something good. Conclusion Beyond and above the quantity consumed and the presence of binge drinking habits, consumption frequency appears as a central factor associated with high implicit/explicit positive attitudes towards alcohol in young drinkers. This underlines the need to consider this factor not only in future studies exploring implicit/explicit attitudes but also in the development of prevention and intervention campaigns in youth.

Binge drinking is a widespread alcohol consumption pattern in youth that is linked to important behavioral and cerebral impairments, in both the short and the long term. From a critical review of the current literature on this topic, we conclude that binge drinkers display executive impairments, cerebral modifications, and problems with emotion-related processes. Five key empirical and theoretical topics are discussed to pave the way for future research in the field: (1) the specificity of the brain modifications observed in binge drinkers that may index a compensatory mechanism or result from multiple withdrawals; (2) the nature of the relationship between binge drinking and impairments, suggesting reciprocal influences between excessive alcohol consumption and executive deficits; (3) the possible recovery of brain and cognitive functioning after the cessation of binge drinking; (4) the validity of the continuum hypothesis, suggesting links between binge drinking and severe alcohol use disorders; and (5) the existing strategies to reduce binge drinking habits or rehabilitate the associated cognitive deficits. Future perspectives are described in relation to the questions raised to identify the crucial variables to be addressed in research and clinical practice.

The dual‐process model, describing addictive disorders as resulting from an imbalance between increased automatic approach behaviors towards the substance and reduced abilities to control these behaviors, constitutes a sound theoretical framework to understand alcohol‐use disorders. The present study aimed at exploring this imbalance at behavioral and cerebral levels in binge drinking, a pattern of excessive alcohol consumption frequently observed in youth, by assessing both reflective control abilities and automatic processing of alcohol‐related stimuli. For this purpose, 25 binge drinkers and 25 comparison participants performed a Go/No‐Go task during electrophysiological recording. Inhibition abilities were investigated during explicit (ie, distinguishing alcoholic versus nonalcoholic drinks) and implicit (ie, distinguishing sparkling versus nonsparkling drinks, independently of their alcohol content) processing of beverage cues. Binge drinkers presented poorer inhibition for the explicit processing of beverage cues, as well as reduced N200 amplitude for the specific processing of alcohol‐related stimuli. As a whole, these findings indicated inhibition impairments in binge drinkers, particularly for alcohol cues processing and at the attentional stage of the cognitive stream. In line with the dual‐process model, these results support that binge drinking is already characterized by an underactivation of the reflective system combined with an overactivation of the automatic system. Results also underlined the influence of explicit processing compared with implicit ones. At the clinical level, our findings reinforce the need to develop intervention methods focusing on the inhibition of approach behaviors towards alcohol‐related stimuli.

Background: Decision‐making impairments have been repeatedly evaluated in severe alcohol use disorders (SAUD) using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). The IGT, capitalizing on strong theoretical background and ecological significance, allowed identifying large‐scale deficits in this population and is now a standard decision‐making assessment in therapeutic settings. However, the clinical usefulness of the IGT, particularly regarding its ability to predict relapse and its link with key cognitive‐physiological deficits, remains to be clarified.Methods: Thirty‐eight recently detoxified patients with SAUD and 38 matched healthy controls performed the IGT, a neuropsychological task using monetary rewards to assess decision making under uncertainty and under risk. Disease characteristics (e.g., duration and intensity), cognitive abilities, psychopathological comorbidities, and physiological damage were also measured, as well as relapse rates 6 months later.Results: Compared to controls, patients with SAUD presented a dissociation between preserved decision making under uncertainty and impaired decision making under risk. In the SAUD group, while relapsers (55% of the sample) presented lower global cognitive functioning and stronger liver damage than nonrelapsers at detoxification time, no difference was found between these subgroups for the IGT. IGT results were not related to alcohol‐consumption characteristics or cognitive‐physiological deficits.Conclusions: SAUD is not related to a global IGT deficit, as suggested earlier, but rather to a specific impairment for decision making under risk. This deficit is not associated with other disease‐related variables and has no relapse prediction power. These results question the clinical usefulness of the IGT as a tool identifying key treatment levers and guiding (neuro)psychological rehabilitation.

Emotional crossmodal integration (i.e., multisensorial decoding of emotions) is a crucial process that ensures adaptive social behaviors and responses to the environment. Recent evidence suggests...