EGCG and curcumin did not outperform placebo for mood symptoms
Mood scores improved in both trial groups, but the combined supplement showed no statistically significant advantage. The blood biomarker result was also inconclusive.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
The combined supplement did not show added improvement in mood symptoms compared with placebo during this trial. Both groups improved, so changes within the supplement group alone would give a misleading picture of its effect. The findings do not establish that the treatments are equivalent or explain why participants in both groups improved.
The abstract gives no between-group effect sizes or confidence intervals and does not clarify whether participants had diagnosed mood disorders. The precision and wider relevance of the null results remain uncertain.
What researchers found
DASS-21 and GAD-7 mood symptom scores
Combined EGCG and curcumin versus placebo over 8 weeks.
The placebo comparison
The key test was whether symptom changes differed between groups. Improvements over time in both groups cannot, by themselves, show that the supplement worked or that any particular lifestyle factor caused the changes.
A separate blood measure
Researchers also measured serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF. Average levels rose in both groups, but those changes were not statistically significant, and there was no evidence that the groups changed differently over time.
The original publication
A Randomized Controlled Trial to Determine the Effects of Curcumin and Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate Supplementation on Serum Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Mood Disturbance in Adults.
Cavanah AM, Robinson LA, Aguilar MM et al.
Nutrients · 2026
- PubMed ID
- 41830024
- Record checked
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