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Onnit New Mood Review
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Welcome to our Onnit New Mood Review!
After taking a critical look at the ingredient sourcing, formulation, and pricing standards of New Mood (among other factors) to see if it lives up to Onnit’s claims, our editorial team assigned an overall grade of A-.
Onnit describes New Mood as a product that supports a “normal daily stress response” by, to paraphrase their messaging, providing the nutrients to optimize serotonin levels.
Onnit Pros and Cons
To learn more about how we rank supplements, you can view our editorial process here.
Here’s everything we learned and experienced throughout our own trial of New Mood.
- Pros
- Ingredients backed by research
- Competitively priced
- Seems helpful for stress
- Cons
- Larger capsules
- Mild and some serious side effects are possible
- Multiple upsell screens in the checkout process
Ingredient Quality
Summary:
Grade: A
Onnit hit on all of our major criteria under this ranking factor, earning New Mood a solid A for ingredient quality.
Between our review of the Onnit website and follow-up conversations with members of their team, we learned that Onnit sources ingredients from various partner farms that practice sustainable, humane methods.
The products are then manufactured at Onnit’s headquarters in Austin, Texas and tested by third-party labs for contaminants and banned substances.
When we asked about the maltodextrin content of New Mood (and some of their other products), the Onnit team explained to us that it is a carrier for ingredients being extracted from raw plant materials; it isn’t added by Onnit after the fact.
As a result, the maltodextrin content is negligibly small (around 0.5% of daily carbohydrate intake), and since it is not used in greater quantities to enhance flavor, we don’t consider it an incriminating entry on this particular ingredient list.
Finally, many of Onnit’s products bear the Rainforest Alliance seal, meaning they adhere to the program’s “three pillars of sustainability: social, economic, and environmental” according to the Rainforest Alliance website.
Let’s take a closer look at the complete ingredient list and the research behind it.
Supporting Research
Summary:
Grade: A-
Though it has not been tested as a complete product in its own trial, New Mood’s individual ingredients have been thoroughly investigated with the results backing up the purported benefits.
Here is the complete ingredient list for Onnit New Mood, broken up into active and inactive ingredient sections:
Active Ingredients:
- Vitamin D (as D3 Cholecalciferol, 1000IU)
- Niacin (as Inositol Hexanicotinate)
- Vitamin B6 (as Pyridoxine HCl)
- Magnesium (as Magnesium Bisglycinate Chelate) (TRAACS)
- Onnit Tranquility BlendTM: Valerian (root) Extract, Chamomile (flower) Extract, Lemon Balm (aerial parts) Extract, Jujube (seed) Extract, L-Tryptophan, 5-Hydroxytryptophan (HTP)
Other Ingredients: Vegetarian Capsule (Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose), Maltodextrin, Rice Hull Concentrate
| Ingredient | Description | Purported Benefit(s) |
| L-tryptophan | Amino acid | Anxiety relief |
| 5-HTP | Serotonin precursor | Sleep, anxiety, depression |
| Vitamin D | Fat-soluble nutrient | Depression, stress |
| Valerian root | Medicinal herb | Sleep and stress |
| Chamomile | Medicinal plant | Inflammation, fever, depression, stress |
A quick asterisk here: maltodextrin can certainly be problematic at higher concentrations, as when it’s used to add flavor, but it’s present in very small amounts in this case.
While there are no official studies or trials examining the effects of New Mood in its complete form, a vast body of evidence supporting the majority of its active ingredients does exist.
The knowledge base varies pretty widely per ingredient from “we still need many more studies to determine long-term and other effects” to “yeah, this is pretty much what it does.”
L-tryptophan and 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) are specifically called out by Onnit for their direct roles in serotonin maintenance (as precursors/building blocks of the neurotransmitter), so we’ll start there.
L-Tryptophan
An academic review from Nihon Pharmaceutical University in Japan assessing the results of 11 randomized clinical trials on L-tryptophan found “significant differences between the treatment and the control groups,” referencing decreased anxiety among participants who took L-tryptophan.
Inversely, this finding from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia found that acute tryptophan depletion not only exerted negative effects on mood, but also “psychomotor processing, working memory, and attention,” most of which can be affected in the case of depression.
5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP)
Many nutrition scientists agree that 5-HTP is more readily absorbed by the body than L-tryptophan, as it traipses across the blood-brain barrier with greater efficiency while foregoing the need for a transport molecule.
Once in the brain, as this study by Duke University explains, 5-HTP in combination with established antidepressant drugs (SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) can actually increase the amount of serotonin by 850%, resulting in mood improvements.
Vitamin D
Beyond its many applications for weightlifters, vitamin D has been found in numerous studies like this one from the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in India to be inversely related with depression.
Because of the collateral effects of sun exposure (increased production of nitric oxide can improve blood flow to the brain), and the fact that it’s very hard for experimenters to measure or limit participants’ sun exposure, it’s still difficult to isolate the precise mechanism(s) that vitamin D uses to improve mood.
Valerian Root
This ever-trendy herb is proving its mettle as a potent therapeutic for anxiety, depression, and sleep, as in this trial from Semnan University of Medical Sciences in Iran, where it significantly improved all three of these issues.
An interesting finding from another Iranian source, the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, found that the anti-spastic properties of valerian root can improve pain in pre-menstrual syndrome, which is characterized in part by fluctuating mood.
Chamomile
Already implicated as having anti-anxiety potential, chamomile has also been shouted out by this University of Pennsylvania study and others for its antidepressant properties.
In the 57-participant study, experimental group members given chamomile showed a significantly greater reduction in depression scores (using HAM-D, the Hamilton Depression Rating).
Evidence for Benefits
We’ve rated the amount of evidence there is for each purported benefit of New Mood:
- Assist daily mood Strong Evidence
- Supports serotonin productionStrong Evidence
- Supports daily calmModerate Evidence
Reported Side Effects
Summary:
Grade: A-
Side effects from New Mood are very rare, but possible. Consulting with your care team and following usage instructions may minimize this risk.
The vast majority of studies inspecting the safety and efficacy of New Mood’s ingredients report little to no adverse events when the respective ingredients are used within healthy parameters (form, method, dosage, etc.).
Still, side effects are possible, and may be exacerbated by pre-existing health conditions in some cases.
The following list of side effects encompasses all the active ingredients mentioned above:
- L-tryptophan: drowsiness (fairly common), tremor, nausea, and dizziness (rare), and “serotonin syndrome” (delirium, muscle spasms, hyperthermia, and coma) (extremely rare, high doses required)
- 5-HTP: Side effects are generally very rare, include diarrhea (2 out of 15 patients in linked trial), hypomania (feeling energetic), and nausea
- Vitamin D: Vitamin D toxicity (VTD), a serious but very rare issue (requires very large and consistent vitamin D “mega doses”) includes recurring vomiting, abdominal pain, excessive urination, dehydration, and kidney/bone damage.
- Valerian Root: Side effects are very rare, but when they do occur, include dizziness, sleepiness, headache, and GI discomfort.
- Chamomile: Side effects are highly uncommon, and may include dizziness, nausea, and allergic reactions
Brand Experience
Summary:
Grade: A-
Onnit offers beginner-friendly information and a comprehensive suite of support services, which earns an A- for this criterion.
Between the product packaging and the website, Onnit customers can access product specs (supplement facts, ingredients, warnings, etc.), a list of purported benefits, several blurbs explaining New Mood effects (how it may help serotonin production, etc.), individualized analyses of about half of the active ingredients, and more.
Onnit strikes a middle ground between technical and overly simplified explanations, providing more discerning customers with a guide to expand their own research while offering enough information up front.
On a broader scale, Onnit has a 90-day return policy and live customer service that responds within a couple of minutes.
As reviewers who spend much of our time combing through journals for evidence, we appreciated the clear breakdown of evidence-supported benefits, and the interspersed images helped to keep everything easily digestible.
Hence, we award Onnit an A- for brand experience in the case of New Mood.
Value for the Price
Summary:
Grade: A-
New Mood isn’t the cheapest supplement of its kind by any means, but it’s rare to find a more affordable product when formulation quality is taken into account.
At $59.90 for 60 capsules, which is a month’s supply according to the use suggestions (recommending two capsules as a daily serving), New Mood has priced itself squarely in between two extremes.
On the one hand, there’s a preponderance of undercutters priced between $30-45, but none we know of match the ingredient quality of New Mood.
On the other hand, premium products like Qualia Mind that have rivaled (or, in Qualia’s case, surpassed) New Mood’s ingredient list are often priced at $80, $90, or even $100+ dollars which is why New Mood lands in a pricing purgatory of sorts.
It’s not the single most nutrient-dense product on the market, but it’s close, and at a more accessible price.
For this reason, New Mood is pushed towards the upper half of the value spectrum, even though it’s numerically in the middle.
Our Experience: Does New Mood Work?
According to the research supporting its ingredients and our own experience, Onnit New Mood may help those dealing with everyday stress (not clinically diagnosed anxiety), a key distinction we seek to make when gauging supplement effectiveness.
The stress-reducing action seemed more obvious when taking the product in midday or late afternoon, as it made for calmer than normal nights after busy and stressful days.
We noticed no adverse effects, and for more stressful days especially, found Onnit New Mood to be a worthwhile addition to our anti-stress routines.
Also, it may seem frivolous to home in on the “taste and texture” of a capsule, but many of us who regularly take them can confirm the very real issue of bitter aftertaste or capsules that begin to dissolve too quickly in the mouth.
Our New Mood capsules caused neither issue, landing neutrally on the tongue, going down easily, and producing no lingering aftertaste.
They’re a bit on the larger side, but we’re not surprised considering the ingredient list, and a little water helped greatly in this regard.
Overall, we had no major issues with the taste or texture.
Our Verdict
Summary:
Overall Grade: A-
Due to its safety profile, price point, product/customer support, and the research behind its ingredients, New Mood earns a high grade with some room for improvement.
Though New Mood itself has not been featured in any trials like Alpha Brain was, the ingredients therein are often pointed to by researchers for their mood-enhancing effects.
Onnit supports this product with a wealth of beginner-friendly information and responsive customer service.
The capsules are easy to take, competitively priced, and helped us overcome feelings of stress.
For these reasons, we award Onnit New Mood a grade of A-, and will continue to recommend it to anyone looking for a mood supplement.
If you like Onnit New Mood, see our other reviews of Onnit products.
New Mood
Tired of trading in stress-related symptoms for harsh side effects? Check out our Onnit New Mood review for a gentler solution.
Product Brand: Onnit Nutrition
Product Currency: USD
Product Price: 59.90
Price Valid Until: 2022-12-31
Product In-Stock: InStock
Editor's Rating:
4.8
4.8
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