Thinking Nutrition

After water, tea is the most popular drink in the world. We turn to it for comfort, for a break in the day, and increasingly, for its claimed mood‑calming powers. Scroll through social media and you’ll find no shortage of claims that tea, or more so one of its bioactive compounds called L‑theanine, are a natural answer to stress and anxiety. In this podcast episode, I take a closer look at those claims through the lens of a new review that pulled together clinical trials on green tea, its key bioactive compounds, and mood with a particular focus on L‑theanine and anxiety.
Links referred to in the podcast
Thinking Nutrition podcast episode 12 on tea and health https://thinkingnutrition.buzzsprout.com/808853/episodes/3156961-drink-tea-and-carry-on
Systematic review on tea and its effects on mood https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40722728
Episode transcript
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One of the best guides to food variety is colour. And for colour, there’s a group of natural plant chemicals called anthocyanins that are getting a lot of attention for their potential benefits on the brain. Anthocyanins are the pigments that give red, purple, and blue plants their rich colouring – they literally put the ‘blue’ into blueberries. A few years back on this podcast, I took you through the science of anthocyanins and brain health. In this episode, I’m revisiting that story with new research. In this episode, I’ll unpack what this new research review found, how it fits with what we already know about anthocyanins and the brain, and what it all means for your shopping basket and your long-term cognitive health.
Links referred to in the podcast
Podcast episode 81 on berries and brain health https://thinkingnutrition.buzzsprout.com/808853/episodes/9099255-blue-is-the-new-black-berries-anthocyanins-and-your-brain-health
Systematic review on anthocyanins and cognitive function 2025 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41351717
Episode transcript
To access the full episode transcript, go to the following link and select the individual podcast episode and then click on the ‘Transcript’ tab https://thinkingnutrition.buzzsprout.com
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If you’ve ever been stopped dead in your tracks during exercise by a muscle cramp, you know you’ll try almost anything to make it stop. There have been countless theories and remedies put forward to explain and treat a dreaded muscle cramp, but science still has a bit of catching up to do. But there is one particular treatment that has been gaining traction by athletes as a secret weapon to treat cramps. And it is one that sounds more like a pregnancy craving than a sports supplement: it is pickle juice. Is this just another passing fad, or is there actual science behind downing a shot of pickle brine to uncramp a muscle? In this podcast episode, I’ll cut through the noise to look at the evidence and the surprising mechanism of how it may work and spoiler alert: it has nothing to do with electrolytes.
Links referred to in the podcast
Pickle juice ingestion in electrically induced muscle cramps  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19997012
AIS fact sheet on pickle juice https://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition/supplements/group_b/tastants/transient-receptor-potential-channel-agonists
Episode transcript
To access the full episode transcript, go to the following link and select the individual podcast episode and then click on the ‘Transcript’ tab https://thinkingnutrition.buzzsprout.com
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Athletes are always on the lookout for a new sports supplement that could give them an edge. And there certainly are some sports supplements that deliver on their promises: creatine and caffeine are two clear examples. But a new supplement is starting to gain traction for its performance benefits: and that’s the humble mushroom. There's now emerging science suggesting that certain functional mushrooms, particularly the varieties of Cordyceps and reishi (also known as Ganoderma lucidum), may offer genuine benefits for endurance, recovery and immune function in athletes. In this podcast, I unpack the research behind these fungal supplements to see what's real, what's hype and whether these mushrooms deserve a spot in your supplement arsenal.
Links referred to in the podcast
Review of the effect of mushroom supplementation on performance in athletes https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2025.1670416/full
Episode transcript
To access the full episode transcript, go to the following link and select the individual podcast episode and then click on the ‘Transcript’ tab https://thinkingnutrition.buzzsprout.com
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If hearing that athletes are downing shots of beetroot juice to improve their performance makes you exclaim: “What sorcery is this?”, you’re not alone. But this isn’t just another passing fad - there’s some solid science showing that the nitrates found in beetroot juice can boost sports performance. From improving blood flow to enhancing muscle efficiency, beetroot juice has gained traction among endurance athletes and sprinters alike. In this podcast episode, I take a dive into what the research says about this vibrant supplement, its likely benefits, and what it might mean for your performance goals.
Links referred to in the podcast
IOC consensus statement on dietary supplements and the high-performance athlete https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/52/7/439
Review of beetroot juice and physical performance https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40573069
Sports Dietitians Australia  www.sportsdietitians.com.au
Episode transcript
To access the full episode transcript, go to the following link and select the individual podcast episode and then click on the ‘Transcript’ tab https://thinkingnutrition.buzzsprout.com
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X CroweTim