Article Sidebar

Online First
Issue: Vol. 22 No. 5 (2026)
Section: ORIGINAL RESEARCH
DOI: 10.56283/1859-0381/969
Date Published: 28/10/2026
Views 112
Downloads 2
How to Cite
1.
DOAN HN, TRAN MAD, NGUYEN TT, NGUYEN TTN. DEVELOPMENT OF A FUNCTIONAL CEREAL BAR AND EVALUATION OF ITS POTENTIAL EFFECTS ON ANXIETY, STRESS, AND DEPRESSION MANAGEMENT: A PILOT STUDY AMONG STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF HANOI. Tạp chí Dinh dưỡng và Thực phẩm. 2026;22(5):4-15. doi:10.56283/1859-0381/969

DEVELOPMENT OF A FUNCTIONAL CEREAL BAR AND EVALUATION OF ITS POTENTIAL EFFECTS ON ANXIETY, STRESS, AND DEPRESSION MANAGEMENT: A PILOT STUDY AMONG STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF HANOI 

Hai Ngan DOAN1, Mai Anh Duong TRAN1, Thanh Tra NGUYEN1, Thi Tuyet Nhung NGUYEN1,
1 University of Science and Technology of Hanoi, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology

Main Article Content

Abstract

Aims: To develop and select a functional cereal bar formulation that was appropriate in terms of nutritional composition and sensory acceptability, while also investigating short-term changes in anxiety, stress, and depression scores among university students during product consumption.

Methods: Five cereal bar formulations (CT1–CT5) were developed using oats, banana, nuts, sesame, honey, olive oil, inulin, and turmeric powder. CT5 was selected as the final formulation following adjustments to the ingredient composition and evaluation of sensory acceptability. An uncontrolled pilot pre–post study was conducted among 30 volunteer university students aged 18–25 years who consumed the product for 14 days. Depression, anxiety, and stress scores were assessed separately using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) on Days 0, 7, and 14. Changes across the three time points were analyzed using the Friedman test, followed by the Wilcoxon signed-rank test with Holm adjustment when appropriate.

Results: CT5 had an overall liking score of 6.17 ± 1.75/9. After 14 days, the mean stress score decreased from 17.77 ± 8.61 to 8.13 ± 4.39; the anxiety score decreased from 11.00 ± 6.38 to 6.47 ± 3.75; and the depression score decreased from 14.00 ± 8.82 to 8.13 ± 5.17. The Friedman test showed that the scores of all three subscales changed significantly across the three time points (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: The study selected CT5 as the final cereal bar formulation, with relatively good sensory acceptability. In this uncontrolled pilot study, stress, anxiety, and depression scores all decreased over the period of product consumption. The finding is preliminary and needs to be verified by controlled trials with large sample sizes.

Keywords

funtional food, cereal bar, anxiety, depression, university students, gut-brain axis

Article Details

References

1. World Health Organization. Mental health of adolescents [Internet]. 2024. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-mental-health.
2. Quach TPT, Zhou R. Comorbidity of depression and test anxiety among Vietnamese and Chinese undergraduates: cross-cultural insights from latent profile and network analyses. Front Psychol. 2025 May 7;16:1535224. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1535224.
3. Tran TV, Nguyen HTL, Tran XMT, Tashiro Y, Seino K, Van Vo T, et al. Academic stress among students in Vietnam: a three-year longitudinal study on the impact of family, lifestyle, and academic factors. J Rural Med. 2024;19(4):279–90. doi:10.2185/jrm.2024-012.
4. Marx W, Lane M, Hockey M, Aslam H, Berk M, Walder K, et al. Diet and depression: exploring the biological mechanisms of action. Mol Psychiatry. 2021 Jan;26(1):134–50. doi:10.1038/s41380-020-00925-x.
5. Coppen A, Shaw DavidM, Herzberg B, Maggs R. TRYPTOPHAN IN THE TREATMENT OF DEPRESSION. The Lancet. 1967 Dec;290(7527):1178–80. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(67)91894-6.
6. Parra M, Stahl S, Hellmann H. Vitamin B6 and Its Role in Cell Metabolism and Physiology. Cells. 2018 Jul 22;7(7):84. doi:10.3390/cells7070084.
7. Boyle N, Lawton C, Dye L. The Effects of Magnesium Supplementation on Subjective Anxiety and Stress—A Systematic Review. Nutrients. 2017 Apr 26;9(5):429. doi:10.3390/nu9050429.
8. Qin YQ, Wang LY, Yang XY, Xu YJ, Fan G, Fan YG, et al. Inulin: properties and health benefits. Food Funct. 2023;14(7):2948–68. doi:10.1039/D2FO01096H.
9. Cianciosi D, Forbes-Hernández TY, Afrin S, Gasparrini M, Reboredo-Rodriguez P, Manna PP, et al. Phenolic Compounds in Honey and Their Associated Health Benefits: A Review. Molecules. 2018 Sep 11;23(9):2322. doi:10.3390/molecules23092322.
10. Kulkarni SK, Dhir A. An overview of curcumin in neurological disorders. Indian J Pharm Sci. 2010 Mar;72(2):149–54. doi:10.4103/0250-474X.65012.
11. Nhim_Ot. Bảng thành phần thực phẩm Việt Nam [Internet]. 2025 [cited 2025 Sep 16]. Available from: https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/food_composition/documents/pdf/VTN_FCT_2007.pdf?utm
12. USDA FoodData Central [Internet]. [cited 2026 Sep 7]. Available from: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/.
13. Canada H. Policy for Labelling and Advertising of Dietary Fibre-Containing Food Products [promotional material] [Internet]. 2017 [cited 2026 Sep 7]. Available from: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications/food-nutrition/labelling-advertising-dietary-fibre-food-products.html.
14. Yadav L, Bhatnagar V. Optimization of ingredients in cereal bar. FSRJ. 2015 Oct 15;6(2):273–8. doi:10.15740/HAS/FSRJ/6.2/273-278.
15. Smith AP. The concept of well-being: relevance to nutrition research. Br J Nutr. 2005 Apr;93(S1):S1–5. doi:10.1079/BJN20041351
16. Bizzozero-Peroni B, Fernández-Rodríguez R, Martínez-Vizcaíno V, Garrido-Miguel M, Medrano M, Jiménez-López E, et al. Nut consumption is associated with a lower risk of depression in adults: A prospective analysis with data from the UK Biobank cohort. Clinical Nutrition. 2023 Sep;42(9):1728–36. doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2023.07.020.
17. Allai FM, Dar BN, Gul K, Adnan M, Ashraf SA, Hassan MI, et al. Development of Protein Rich Pregelatinized Whole Grain Cereal Bar Enriched With Nontraditional Ingredient: Nutritional, Phytochemical, Textural, and Sensory Characterization. Front Nutr. 2022 Apr 8;9:870819. doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.870819.
18. Francis HM, Stevenson RJ, Chambers JR, Gupta D, Newey B, Lim CK. A brief diet intervention can reduce symptoms of depression in young adults – A randomised controlled trial. Matsuoka YJ, editor. PLoS ONE. 2019 Oct 9;14(10):e0222768. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0222768.
19. Radkhah N, Rasouli A, Majnouni A, Eskandari E, Parastouei K. The effect of Mediterranean diet instructions on depression, anxiety, stress, and anthropometric indices: A randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial. Prev Med Rep. 2023 Oct 10;36:102469. doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102469.
20. Dalile B, Van Oudenhove L, Vervliet B, Verbeke K. The role of short-chain fatty acids in microbiota–gut–brain communication. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2019 Aug;16(8):461–78. doi:10.1038/s41575-019-0157-3.
21. Lopresti AL, Maes M, Maker GL, Hood SD, Drummond PD. Curcumin for the treatment of major depression: A randomised, double-blind, placebo controlled study. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2014 Oct;167:368–75. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2014.06.001.
22. Boyle N, Lawton C, Dye L. The Effects of Magnesium Supplementation on Subjective Anxiety and Stress—A Systematic Review. Nutrients. 2017 Apr 26;9(5):429. doi:10.3390/nu9050429.
23. Cory H, Passarelli S, Szeto J, Tamez M, Mattei J. The Role of Polyphenols in Human Health and Food Systems: A Mini-Review. Front Nutr. 2018 Sep 21;5:87. doi:10.3389/fnut.2018.00087.