Comment:

Mental health is an often overlooked problem, though has a large impact on many individuals. Although more work needs to be undertaken in the link between antioxidants and depression it is worth it. 

Posted by James Lamper

 

Research:

Mental health is a large issue, over a year 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience a mental health problem in some form. A study has been done in the USA to see whether antioxidant status is important in the risk of depression.

The study looked at 1798 adults aged between 20-85, their blood and mental health were analysed, they were taken from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

It was found that especially in women those who had higher levels of carotenoid serum levels were less likely to be depressed. 

 

For more information see: Beydoun MA et al. (2012) British Journal of Nutrition [Epub ahead of print].

Original article can be found here: http://www.nutrition-communications.com/news_detail.php?news_id=313