Al-Gareeb Ali I
Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics College of Medicine, Al-Mustansiriya University, Baghdad, Iraq.
J Intercult Ethnopharmacol. 2015 Jul-Sep;4(3):221-3. doi: 10.5455/jice.20150403055054. Epub 2015 Apr 7.
Herbal medicines are often perceived by the general public as a "soft" alternative to Western Medicine, but the use of these substances can be risky since they can induce nocebo effect.
The aim was to evaluate the nocebo effects of Nigella sativa oil, garlic and coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) on the integrative function of the central nervous system and psychomotor performance.
This is a randomized, double-blind, controlled, and prospective study conducted in the Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Al-Mustansiriya University, Baghdad, Iraq during February 2013. A total of 160 medical students participated in this study were randomly assigned equally to one of the following groups: Group A: Received single dose of N. sativa oil (500 ml capsule); Group B: Received single dose of garlic (500 mg capsule); Group C: Received single dose of CoQ10 (120 mg capsule) and; Group D: received single dose of matching oral placebo (300 mg starch capsule). For all participants, reaction time and flicker fusion threshold were measured by the Leeds psychomotor performance test battery before and after 3 h of taking the drugs.
Neither placebo nor nutraceuticals exerted significant effect on total reaction time. Although the recognition reaction time is insignificantly reduced by 2.77% (placebo), 5.83% (Nigella sativa), 7.21% (garlic) and 12.64% (CoQ10) from the pretreatment values, they are adversely affect the motor reaction time to reach the significant level in subjects pretreated with Garlic (P = 0.02).
Nutraceuticals are not free from nocebo effect on psychomotor performance.
草药通常被公众视为西药的“温和”替代品，但使用这些物质可能存在风险，因为它们可能会引发反安慰剂效应。
本研究旨在评估黑种草籽油、大蒜和辅酶Q10（CoQ10）对中枢神经系统整合功能和精神运动表现的反安慰剂效应。
这是一项随机、双盲、对照的前瞻性研究，于2013年2月在伊拉克巴格达穆斯坦西里亚大学医学院药理学系开展。共有160名医学生参与本研究，他们被随机平均分为以下几组：A组：服用单剂量黑种草籽油（500毫升胶囊）；B组：服用单剂量大蒜（500毫克胶囊）；C组：服用单剂量辅酶Q10（120毫克胶囊）；D组：服用单剂量匹配的口服安慰剂（300毫克淀粉胶囊）。对所有参与者，在服药3小时前后通过利兹精神运动表现测试组测量反应时间和闪光融合阈值。
安慰剂和营养保健品对总反应时间均未产生显著影响。尽管识别反应时间较预处理值分别有不显著降低，安慰剂组降低2.77%，黑种草籽组降低5.83%，大蒜组降低7.21%，辅酶Q10组降低12.64%，但它们对运动反应时间有不利影响，大蒜预处理组达到显著水平（P = 0.02）。
营养保健品对精神运动表现并非没有反安慰剂效应。
