Made of resin from the Boswellia plant, frankincense has not been previously been thought to have any effect on the brain.

"In spite of information stemming from ancient texts, constituents of Boswellia had not been investigated for psychoactivity," said Professor Raphael Mechoulam of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, one of the research study's co-authors.

"We found that incensole acetate, a Boswellia resin constituent, when tested in mice lowers anxiety and causes antidepressive-like behaviour."

"Apparently, most present day worshippers assume that incense burning has only a symbolic meaning."

When administered to mice, incensole acetate affects areas of the brain involved with emotion as well as areas known to be affected by current anxiety and depression medications.

The compound activates a mammalian brain protein called TRPV3, known to play a role in the perception of warmth on the skin.

Incensole acetate's effects could point the way to an entirely new class of depression and anxiety drugs.

"Perhaps Marx wasn't too wrong when he called religion the opium of the people," said Dr Gerald Weissmann, editor-in-chief of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal.

"Morphine comes from poppies, cannabinoids from marijuana, and LSD from mushrooms -- each of these has been used in one or another religious ceremony."

"Studies of how those psychoactive drugs work have helped us understand modern neurobiology."

"The discovery of how incensole acetate, purified from frankincense, works on specific targets in the brain should also help us understand diseases of the nervous system."

"This study also provides a biological explanation for millennia-old spiritual practices that have persisted across time, distance, culture, language, and religion -- burning incense really does make you feel warm and tingly all over!"