Frankincense on Coal (picture taken from wikipedia)
Religious leaders have long contended that burning incense is good for the soul. Now biologists have discovered that it's good for the brain, too.
In a study appearing in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), an international team of scientists, including researchers from Johns Hopkins University, have discovered that burning frankincense activates poorly understood ion channels in the brain to alleviate anxiety and depression.
"We found that incensole acetate, a Boswellia resin constituent, when tested in mice lowers anxiety and causes antidepressive-like behavior," said Raphael Mechoulam, one of the study's co-authors. "Apparently most present day worshippers assume that incense-burning has only a symbolic meaning."
When researchers administered incensole acetate to mice, they found it significantly affected areas in the brain known to be involved in emotions as well as in nerve circuits affected by current anxiety and depression drugs.
Millions of Americans could benefit from this discovery. According to the National Institutes of Health, major depressive disorders are the leading cause of disability in the United States for people ages 15-44 and affect approximately 14.8 million adults. Anxiety disorders affect 40 million American adults and frequently co-occur with depressive disorders.
This discovery suggests that an entirely new class of depression and anxiety drugs might be closer than we think. However, this won't be the first time a substance used in a religious ceremony has advanced modern science.
"Morphine comes from poppies, cannabinoids from marijuana, and LSD from mushrooms; each of these has been used in one or another religious ceremony," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., editor-in-chief of the FASEB journal. "Studies of how those psychoactive drugs work have helped us understand modern neurobiology."
This latest discovery may also help scientists better understand diseases of the nervous system.
It also confirms what the faithful have known all along. "This study also provides a biological explanation for millennia-old spiritual practices that have persisted across time, distance, culture, language and religion," Dr. Weissmann said. "Burning incense really does make you feel warm and tingly all over."
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