Folate May Ease Depression in Men
December 12, 2007 by ruth
Filed under Food & Nutrition
Although folate or folic acid is usually prescribed to women, particularly during pregnancy, men can benefit from it too. Aside from its reported benefits against heart disease, initial findings in a study involving Japanese subjects indicated that increased intake of folate may reduce the incidence of depression in men by 50 per cent. Men with the highest average intake (235 micrograms per 100 kcal) were 50 per cent less likely to have depressive symptoms than men with the lowest average intake (119 micrograms per 100 kcal).
However, the researchers issued a caveat:
“We cannot rule out the possibility that the relation between folate intake and depressive symptoms may be explained by other beneficial components of a folate-rich diet, because such a diet also is usually rich in certain B vitamins such as riboflavin and pyridoxine, and the prevalence of depressive symptoms tended to decrease as intake of such B vitamins increased, albeit without statistical significance,” wrote the researchers.
The study has been published recently in the journal Nutrition (doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2007.10.013).
