Inositol for Anxiety
Inositol is not a proven treatment for anxiety: the only meta-analysis found no significant benefit, and the few positive results come from very small, dated trials. It should not be relied on in place of established therapies like CBT or SSRIs.
Why this grade7-layer evidence engine
The grade is Weak (Tier C) because the evidence is small, old, and contradictory. The only meta-analysis, Mukai 2014 (PMID 24424706), pooled four anxiety RCTs (n=70) and found no statistically significant effect of inositol on anxiety or obsessive-compulsive symptoms. The positive signal rests entirely on three tiny single-site crossover trials from one research group: a panic-disorder study (PMID 7793450, n=21), an inositol-versus-fluvoxamine trial (PMID 11386498, n=20), and an OCD trial (PMID 8780431, n=13).
Those early trials reported fewer and milder panic attacks and lower OCD scores versus placebo, with effects comparable to fluvoxamine. But samples were very small, results have never been replicated in a large modern trial, and the effective doses (12-18 g/day) far exceed typical consumer products, limiting real-world relevance.
Regulators and clinicians do not endorse it for anxiety. The FDA classifies inositol only as a GRAS nutrient, while the NHS and WHO address it solely in infant formula. The American Psychiatric Association and ADAA do not include it in anxiety guidelines, and Cleveland Clinic calls the research limited, framing inositol as a possible add-on rather than a replacement for prescribed treatment.
Scoring transparency
All scores computed by a 7-layer evidence engine — fully auditable▸View the full decision path (audit trail)
- compute_raw_score — 加權公式: L2×0.30 + L3×0.25 + L5×0.25 + L11×0.10 + L1×0.10 = 0.436
- tier_from_score — 依分數區間映射至 tier letter
- apply_hec_rules — 無高階證據可裁決
- tier_strict_requirement_check — Tier 條件達標，未降階
- detect_disputes — 偵測到 0 個 hard + 0 個 soft dispute
- decide_status — 依 tier + dispute 結果決定 status