B-Vitamin Problems May Cause Depression in Some

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B-Vitamin Problems May Cause Depression in Some

Sat Jul 5, 4:27 PM ET

By Alison McCook

 

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New findings suggests that some people with

depression might have problems metabolizing the B vitamin folate --

supporting the idea that supplements could help ward off the condition,

researchers say.

 

Investigators in Norway found that depression occurred more commonly in

people who had high levels of the amino acid homocysteine in their

blood, and in those who carried a form of a gene that encodes a protein

involved in processing folate.

 

Homocysteine is a normal byproduct of metabolism, and folic acid -- the

form of folate found in supplements -- is known to aid in breaking down

homocysteine.

 

" Lack of folate and/or a disturbed folate metabolism ... may partially

be the cause of the depression in some people, " study author Dr. Ingvar

Bjelland of the University of Bergen told Reuters Health.

 

Previous research has suggested that folic acid supplements may boost

the effects of antidepressants, an idea supported by the current study,

Bjelland said.

 

The results, which appear in the Archives of General Psychiatry, " could

even support the suggestion that folate may prevent depression, " the

researcher noted.

 

Bjelland and colleagues obtained their findings by scanning blood

samples from 5,948 people between the ages of 46 and 49, and screening

them for depression and anxiety.

 

The researchers found that people who had relatively high levels of

homocysteine in their blood were almost twice as likely to be

depressed, relative to people with the lowest blood levels of

homocysteine.

 

According to the report, depression was also linked to a form of the

gene for a folate-processing enzyme associated with poorer efficiency

in the breakdown of folate.

 

Anxiety, however, was not related to either homocysteine or the

folate-processing enzyme.

 

Although markers of folate metabolism appeared altered in depression,

actual levels of folate in the blood did not appear to differ between

people with and without depression.

 

Bjelland noted that while this result is surprising, measuring folate

in the blood may, in fact, be a " less precise " indication of how much

folate is actually in cells.

 

" In addition, in our study the laboratory method of measuring

homocysteine was more accurate than the method for folate, " Bjelland

said.

 

Explaining why folate might play a role in depression, the researcher

said the body may need the B vitamin to build important substances in

the brain -- a lack of which may cause depression and other mental

disorders.

 

To Bjelland, the current study supports a simple message: get your

vitamins.

 

" Vitamins are important, not only for the physical health, but for the

mental health as well, " the researcher said.

 

SOURCE: Archives of General Psychiatry 2003;60:618-626.