Camellia sinensis

How Camellia sinensis works for dogs

Camellia sinensis is included as part of Calm's calming botanicals active ingredients.

Camellia sinensis, also known as green tea, provides tea-derived bioactives, including the amino acid L-theanine, which is associated with calm, non-sedating relaxation. In dogs, L-theanine has been studied in storm-sensitive animals and was associated with lower owner-reported anxiety scores and a faster return to normal behaviour after stressful events. Its role in the formula is to support calm behaviour while helping dogs remain alert and responsive.

L-theanine changes how the nervous system responds to stress rather than dulling the dog generally, a distinction backed by a storm-sensitivity study and the reasoning behind pairing it with passionflower.

What L-theanine actually does

L-theanine occurs naturally in tea leaves and has been studied for its effect on brain activity associated with a relaxed, alert state, the opposite of sedation. It doesn't slow a dog down; it seems to change how the nervous system responds to stress in the first place.

That distinction matters for a supplement aimed at behaviour. A sedative works by dulling the dog generally. L-theanine's research points to something narrower: less reactivity to a stressful trigger, without a change in how alert or responsive the dog is the rest of the time.

The evidence in dogs specifically

The clearest data comes from an open-label study of storm-sensitive dogs given an L-theanine supplement, where owners reported lower anxiety scores and a faster return to normal behaviour after a stressful event, such as a thunderstorm, had passed.

A broader 2023 review of treatments for noise-related fear in dogs placed L-theanine among the nutritional options with credible supporting evidence, alongside behavioural and pharmaceutical approaches. It is not presented there as a cure, but as one legitimate tool in a wider toolkit.

Why it is paired with passionflower in Calm

Camellia sinensis is one half of Calm's botanical pairing, alongside Passiflora incarnata. The two act on related but distinct pathways, which is the reasoning behind combining them rather than relying on either alone.

Why an extract, not tea leaves

A dog isn't drinking a cup of tea, and that's the point. Green tea leaves carry L-theanine and caffeine together in proportions that vary with the grade of leaf and how it's processed, which is a poor starting point for a chew meant to be given every day.

Broono uses a standardised Camellia sinensis extract instead, one processed specifically to concentrate the L-theanine and strip out most of the caffeine, then measured into the chew by weight. That gives a consistent, low-caffeine amount in every batch, rather than whatever ratio the raw leaf happens to contain.