"Antioxidants and Depression"
According to the latest from the CDC,
the rates of all of our top 10 killers have fallen or stabilized
except for one... suicide.
Accumulating evidence indicates that oxidative free radicals
may play important roles in the development
of various neuropsychiatric disorders including major depression.
For example, in a study of nearly 300,000 Canadians,
greater fruit and vegetable consumption was associated
with lower odds of depression, psychological distress,
self-reported mood and anxiety disorders and poor perceived mental health.
They conclude that since a healthy diet comprised of
a high intake of fruits and vegetables is rich in anti-oxidants,
may consequently dampen the detrimental effects
of oxidative stress on mental health.
But that was just based on asking
how many fruits and veggies people ate.
If you measure the levels of carotenoid phytonutrients
in nearly 2000 people across the country,
a higher total blood carotenoid level was associated
with a lower likelihood of elevated depressive symptoms,
and there appeared to be a dose-response relationship,
meaning the higher the levels, the better people felt.
Lycopene, the red pigment predominantly found in tomatoes,
but also present in watermelon, pink grapefruit, guava, papaya,
is the most powerful antioxidant among the carotenoid family.
In a test tube it’s about 100 times more effective
at quenching these free radicals than vitamin E, for example.
And in a study of about a thousand older men and women,
those who ate the most tomato products
had about half the odds of depression.
The researchers conclude that a tomato-rich diet
may have a beneficial effect on the prevention of depressive symptoms.
Higher intake of fruits and vegetables has been found
to lead to a lower risk of developing depression.
But if it’s the antioxidants can’t we just take an antioxidant pill?
No, only food sources of antioxidants
were protectively associated with depression.
Not antioxidants from dietary supplements.
Although plant foods and food-derived phytochemicals
have been associated with health benefits,
antioxidants from dietary supplements appear to be
less beneficial and may, in fact, be detrimental to health.
This may indicate that the form and delivery
of the antioxidants are important.
Alternately, the observed association may be due
not to antioxidants at all, but rather to other dietary factors
such as folate that also occur in fruits, vegetables, and plant-rich diets.
In a study of thousands of middle-aged office workers,
eating lots of processed food was found to be a risk factor
for at least mild to moderate depression five years later,
whereas a whole food pattern was found to be protective.
Yes, it could be because of the high content of antioxidants in fruits and vegetables
but could also be the folate in greens and beans,
as some studies have suggested an increased risk of depression
in folks who may not be getting enough.
Low folate levels in the blood are associated with depression,
but since most of the early studies were cross-sectional,
meaning a snapshot in time,
we didn’t know if the low folate led to depression
or the depression led to low folate.
Maybe when you have the blues you don’t want to eat the greens.
But since then a number of cohort studies were published,
following people over time,
and a low dietary intake of folate may indeed be a risk factor
for severe depression, as much as a threefold higher risk.
Note this is dietary folate intake, not folic acid supplements,
so they were actually eating healthy foods.
If you give people folic acid pills they don’t seem to work.
This may be because folate is found in dark green leafy vegetables like spinach,
whereas folic acid is the oxidized synthetic compound
used in food fortification and dietary supplements
because it’s more shelf-stable,
but may have different effects on the body as I explored previously.
These kinds of findings point to the importance
of antioxidant food sources RATHER than dietary supplements.
But there was an interesting study giving people high dose vitamin C,
also known as ascorbic acid.
The vitamin C, but not placebo group, experienced a decrease
in depression scores, and also greater FSI.
What is FSI?
FSI evidently stands for penile-vaginal intercourse,
an acronym that makes no sense to me.
But evidently high dose vitamin C
improves mood and intercourse frequency,
but only in sexual partners that don’t live with one another.
In the placebo group, those not living together
had sex about once a week,
and those living together a little higher, once every five days,
but no big change on vitamin C.
But those not living together on vitamin C,
every other day!
The differential effect on non-cohabitants suggests
that the mechanism is not a peripheral one,
meaning outside of the brain, but a central one—
some psychological change which motivates the person
to venture forth to have intercourse.
The mild antidepressant effect they found
was unrelated to cohabitation or frequency,
so it does not appear that the depression scores improved
just because of the improved FSI.