JOIN USMarie-Anne Milesi from Seppic, France, worked with a team of researchers to evaluate its anti-stress effects in 70 volunteers.
"We wanted to test whether augmenting the body's ability to deal with oxidative species might help a person's ability to resist burnout," informs Milesi.
"The 35 people in our study who received capsules containing superoxide dismutase (melon derivative) showed improvement in several signs and symptoms of perceived stress and fatigue."
The researchers found a strong placebo effect in the volunteers who received inactive starch capsules, as can be expected when studying subjective feelings like stress.
However, the improvements seen in the supplement group were significantly greater, especially after 28 days, according to a release of BioMed Central.
"The placebo effect was only present during the first seven days of supplementation and not beyond," said Milesi.
"It will be interesting to confirm these effects and better understand the action of antioxidants on stress in further studies with a larger number of volunteers and a longer duration," she added.
These findings were published in BioMed Central's open access Nutrition Journal.