For women with antenatal depression, micronutrients might help them and their babies – new study
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Julia J Rucklidge, University of Canterbury; Elena Moltchanova, University of Canterbury; Roger Mulder, University of Otago, and Siobhan A Campbell, University of Canterbury
Antenatal depression affects 15% to 21% of pregnant women worldwide. It can influence birth outcomes and children’s development, as well as increase the risk of post-natal depression.
Current treatments like therapy can be inaccessible and antidepressants can carry risks for developing infants.
Over the past two decades, research has highlighted that poor nutrition is a contributing risk factor to mental health challenges. Most pregnant women in New Zealand aren’t adhering to nutritional guidelines, according to a longitudinal study. Only 3% met the recommendations for all food groups.
Another cohort study carried out in Brazil shows that ultra-processed foods (UPF) accounted for at least 30% of daily dietary energy during pregnancy, displacing healthier options.
UPFs are chemically manufactured and contain additives to improve shelf life, as well as added sugar and salt. Importantly, they are low in essential micronutrients (vitamins and minerals).
The consumption of these foods is concerning because a nutrient-poor diet during pregnancy has been linked to poorer mental health outcomes in children. This includes depression, anxiety, hyperactivity, and inattention.
Increasing nutrients in maternal diets and reducing consumption of UPFs could improve the mental health of the mother and the next generation. Good nutrition can have lifelong benefits for the offspring.
However, there are multiple factors that mean diet change alone may not in itself be sufficient to address mental health challenges. Supplementing with additional nutrients may also be important to address nutritional needs during pregnancy.
Micronutrients as treatment for depression
Our earlier research suggests micronutrient supplements for depression have benefits outside pregnancy.
But until now there have been no published randomised controlled trials specifically designed to assess the efficacy and safety of broad-spectrum micronutrients on antenatal depression and overall functioning.
The NUTRIMUM trial, which ran between 2017 and 2022, recruited 88 women in their second trimester of pregnancy who reported moderate depressive symptoms. They were randomly allocated to receive either 12 capsules (four pills, three times a day) of a broad-spectrum micronutrient supplement or an active placebo containing iodine and riboflavin for a 12-week period.
Micronutrient doses were generally between the recommended dietary allowance and the tolerable upper level.
Based on clinician ratings, micronutrients significantly improved overall psychological functioning compared to the placebo. The findings took into account all noted changes based on self-assessment and clinician observations. This includes sleep, mood regulation, coping, anxiety and side effects.
Both groups reported similar reductions in symptoms of depression. More than three quarters of participants were in remission at the end of the trial. But 69% of participants in the micronutrient group rated themselves as “much” or “very much” improved, compared to 39% in the placebo group.
Participants taking the micronutrients also experienced significantly greater improvements in sleep and overall day-to-day functioning, compared to participants taking the placebo. There were no group differences on measures of stress, anxiety and quality of life.
Importantly, there were no group differences in reported side effects, and reports of suicidal thoughts dropped over the course of the study for both groups. Blood tests confirmed increased vitamin levels (vitamin C, D, B12) and fewer deficiencies in the micronutrient group.
Micronutrients were particularly helpful for women with chronic mental health challenges and those who had taken psychiatric medications in the past. Those with milder symptoms improved with or without the micronutrients, suggesting general care and monitoring might suffice for some women.
The benefits of micronutrients were comparable to psychotherapy but with less contact. There are no randomised controlled trials of antidepressant medication to compare these results.
Retention in the study was good (81%) and compliance excellent (90%).
Beyond maternal mental health
We followed the infants of mothers enrolled in the NUTRIMUM trial (who were therefore exposed to micronutrients during pregnancy) for 12 months, alongside infants from the general population of Aotearoa New Zealand.
This second group of infants from the general population contained a smaller sub-group who were exposed to antidepressant medication for the treatment of antenatal depression.
We assessed the neuro-behavioural development of each infant within the first four weeks of life, and temperament up to one year after birth.
These observational follow-ups showed positive effects of micronutrients on the infants’ ability to regulate their behaviour. These results were on par with or better than typical pregnancies, and better than treatments with antidepressants.
Infants exposed to micronutrients during pregnancy were significantly better at attending to external stimuli. They were also better able to block out external stimuli during sleep. They showed fewer signs of stress and had better muscle tone compared to infants not exposed to micronutrients.
They also displayed greater ability to interact with their environment. They were better at regulating their emotional state and had fewer abnormal muscle reflexes than infants exposed to antidepressant medication in pregnancy.
Reassuringly, micronutrients had no negative impact on infant temperament.
These findings highlight the potential of micronutrients as a safe and effective alternative to traditional medication treatments for antenatal depression.
The prenatal environment sets the foundation for a child’s future. Further investigation into the benefits of micronutrient supplementation would gives us more confidence in their use for other perinatal (from the start of pregnancy to a year after birth) mental health issues. This could provide future generations with a better start to life.
We would like to acknowledge the contribution of Dr Hayley Bradley to this research project.
Julia J Rucklidge, Professor of Psychology, University of Canterbury; Elena Moltchanova, Professor of Statistics, University of Canterbury; Roger Mulder, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Otago, and Siobhan A Campbell, Intern Psychologist, Researcher – Te Puna Toiora (Mental Health and Nutrition Research Lab), University of Canterbury
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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The Blood Sugar Freedom Formula − by Matt Vande Vegte
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It’s often the case that well-educated person who has lived with a chronic disease for many years ends up knowing more about it than general practice doctors, and sometimes more than some specialists, depending on the disease.
This author is such a person. He’s a physiotherapist by profession, an endurance athlete by passion, and a Type 1 Diabetic by chance.
Most books about diabetes out there are for the much more common type 2 diabetes, and while much of the advice carries over (things improve/reduce insulin sensitivity are still going to be good/bad, respectively), a lot does not, because unlike in type 2 diabetes, your pancreas is not making meaningful amounts of insulin (and that’s always going to be a limitation that no dietary change is going to get around), and you have an active autoimmune disease, which as such, has a lot of impact on other aspects of health.
This book details all these things and more, and also discusses what he has found works, based on a foundation of research and thereafter, on personal trial-and-improvement (or sometimes just plain trial-and-error).
The style is a bit hypey, and he does try earnestly to persuade the reader to sign up for his special course and things like that, but there’s more than enough practical information in the book already to make it worthwhile reading.
Bottom line: if you and/or a loved one has Type 1 Diabetes, this is a great book to read!
Click here to check out The Blood Sugar Freedom Formula, and live more easily!
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Caramelized Caraway Cabbage
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Cabbage is an underrated vegetable for its many nutrients and its culinary potential—here’s a great way to make it a delectable starter or respectable side.
You will need
- 1 medium white cabbage, sliced into 1″ thick slabs
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp caraway seeds
- 1 tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ¼ tsp MSG or ½ tsp low-sodium salt
Method
(we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)
1) Preheat the oven to 400℉ / 200℃.
2) Combine the non-cabbage ingredients in a small bowl, whisking to mix thoroughly—with a tiny whisk if you have one, but a fork will work if necessary.
3) Arrange the cabbage slices on a lined baking tray and brush the seasoning-and-oil mixture over both sides of each slice.
4) Roast for 20–25 minutes until the cabbage is tender and beginning to caramelize.
5) Serve warm.
Enjoy!
Want to learn more?
For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:
- Curcumin (Turmeric) is worth its weight in gold
- Black Pepper’s Impressive Anti-Cancer Arsenal (And More)
- Avocado Oil vs Olive Oil – Which is Healthier?
Take care!
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The Many Benefits Of Taking PQQ
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
We’re going to start this one by quoting directly from the journal “Current Research in Food Science”, because it provides a very convenient list of benefits for us to look at:
- PQQ is a potent antioxidant that supports redox balance and mitochondrial function, vital for energy and health.
- PQQ contributes to lipid metabolism regulation, indicating potential benefits for energy management.
- PQQ supplementation is linked to weight control, improved insulin sensitivity, and may help prevent metabolic disorders.
- PQQ may attenuate inflammation, bolster cognitive and cardiovascular health, and potentially assist in cancer therapies.
Future research should investigate PQQ dosages, long-term outcomes, and its potential for metabolic and cognitive health. The translation of PQQ research into clinical practice could offer new strategies for managing metabolic disorders, enhancing cognitive health, and potentially extending lifespan.
What is it?
It’s a redox-active (and thus antioxidant) quinone molecule, and essential vitamin co-factor, that not only helps mitochondria to do their thing, but also supports the creation of new mitochondria.
For more detail, you can read all about that here: Pyrroloquinoline Quinone, a Redox-Active o-Quinone, Stimulates Mitochondrial Biogenesis by Activating the SIRT1/PGC-1α Signaling Pathway
It’s first and foremost made by bacteria, and/but it’s present in many foods, including kiwi fruit, spinach, celery, soybeans, human breast milk, and mouse breast milk.
You may be wondering why “mouse breast milk” makes the list. The causal reason is simply that research scientists do a lot of work with mice, and so it was discovered. If you would argue it is not a food because it is breast milk from another species, then ask yourself if you would have said the same if it came from a cow or goat—only social convention makes it different!
For any vegans reading: ok, you get a free pass on this one :p
This information sourced from: Pyrroloquinoline Quinone: Its Profile, Effects on the Liver and Implications for Health and Disease Prevention
On which note…
Against non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
From the above-linked study:
❝Antioxidant supplementation can reverse hepatic steatosis, suggesting dietary antioxidants might have potential as therapeutics for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) or nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).
An extraordinarily potent dietary antioxidant is pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ). PQQ is a ubiquitous, natural, and essential bacterial cofactor found in soil, plants, and interstellar dust. The major source of PQQ in mammals is dietary; it is common in leafy vegetables, fruits, and legumes, especially soy, and is found in high concentrations in human and mouse breast milk.
This chapter reviews chemical and biological properties enabling PQQ’s pleiotropic actions, which include modulating multiple signaling pathways directly (NF-κB, JNK, JAK-STAT) and indirectly (Wnt, Notch, Hedgehog, Akt) to improve liver pathophysiology. The role of PQQ in the microbiome is discussed, as PQQ-secreting probiotics ameliorate oxidative stress–induced injury systemwide. A limited number of human trials are summarized, showing safety and efficacy of PQQ❞
…which is all certainly good to see.
Source: Ibid.
Against obesity
And especially, against metabolic obesity, in other words, against the accumulation of visceral and hepatic fat, which are much much worse for the health than subcutaneous fat (that’s the fat you can physically squish and squeeze from the outside with your hands):
❝In addition to inhibiting lipogenesis, PQQ can increase mitochondria number and function, leading to improved lipid metabolism. Besides diet-induced obesity, PQQ ameliorates programing obesity of the offspring through maternal supplementation and alters gut microbiota, which reduces obesity risk.
In obesity progression, PQQ mitigates mitochondrial dysfunction and obesity-associated inflammation, resulting in the amelioration of the progression of obesity co-morbidities, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, chronic kidney disease, and Type 2 diabetes.
Overall, PQQ has great potential as an anti-obesity and preventive agent for obesity-related complications.❞
Read in full: Pyrroloquinoline-quinone to reduce fat accumulation and ameliorate obesity progression
Against aging
This one’s particularly interesting, because…
❝PQQ’s modulation of lactate acid and perhaps other dehydrogenases enhance NAD+-dependent sirtuin activity, along with the sirtuin targets, such as PGC-1α, NRF-1, NRF-2 and TFAM; thus, mediating mitochondrial functions. Taken together, current observations suggest vitamin-like PQQ has strong potential as a potent therapeutic nutraceutical❞
If you’re not sure about what NAD+ is, you can read about it here: NAD+ Against Aging
And if you’re not sure what sirtuins do, you can read about those here: Dr. Greger’s Anti-Aging Eight ← it’s at the bottom!
Want to try some?
As mentioned, it can be found in certain foods, but to guarantee getting enough, and/or if you’d simply like it in supplement form, here’s an example product on Amazon 😎
Enjoy!
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Winter Wellness – by Rachel de Thample
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Winter is often the season of comfort foods and, in much of the Western world, there’s a holiday season slide of forgotten diets and instead sugar, alcohol, pastry, and the like.
What de Thample does here is an antidote to all that, without sacrificing happiness and celebration.
Before the recipes get started, she has a chapter on “food as medicine“, and to our immense surprise, proceeds to detail, accurately, many categories such as
- Foods for immune health
- Foods against inflammation
- Foods for gut health
- Foods against aging
- Foods for energy levels
- Foods against anxiety
- Foods for hormonal balance
…and so forth, with lists of ingredients that fit into each category.
Then in the rest of the book, she lays out beautiful recipes for wonderful dishes (and drinks) that use those ingredients, without unhealthy additions.
The recipes are, by the way, what could best be categorized as “fancy”. However, they are fancy in the sense that they will be impressive for entertaining, and (again, to our great surprise) they don’t actually call for particularly expensive/rare ingredients, nor for arcane methods and special equipment.Instead, everything’s astonishingly accessible to put together and easy to execute.
Bottom line: if you’d like to indulge this winter, but would like to do so healthily, this is an excellent way to do so.
Click here to check out Winter Wellness, and level-up your seasonal health and happiness!
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Thinking about cosmetic surgery? New standards will force providers to tell you the risks and consider if you’re actually suitable
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People considering cosmetic surgery – such as a breast augmentation, liposuction or face lift – should have extra protection following the release this week of new safety and quality standards for providers, from small day-clinics through to larger medical organisations.
The new standards cover issues including how these surgeries are advertised, psychological assessments before surgery, the need for people to be informed of risks associated with the procedure, and the type of care people can expect during and afterwards. The idea is for uniform standards across Australia.
The move is part of sweeping reforms of the cosmetic surgery industry and the regulation of medical practitioners, including who is allowed to call themselves a surgeon.
It is heartening to see these reforms, but some may say they should have come much sooner for what’s considered a highly unregulated area of medicine.
Why do people want cosmetic surgery?
Australians spent an estimated A$473 million on cosmetic surgery procedures in 2023.
The major reason people want cosmetic surgery relates to concerns about their body image. Comments from their partners, friends or family about their appearance is another reason.
The way cosmetic surgery is portrayed on social media is also a factor. It’s often portrayed as an “easy” and “accessible” fix for concerns about someone’s appearance. So such aesthetic procedures have become far more normalised.
The use of “before” and “after” images online is also a powerful influence. Some people may think their appearance is worse than the “before” photo and so they think cosmetic intervention is even more necessary.
People don’t always get the results they expect
Most people are satisfied with their surgical outcomes and feel better about the body part that was previously concerning them.
However, people have often paid a sizeable sum of money for these surgeries and sometimes experienced considerable pain as they recover. So a positive evaluation may be needed to justify these experiences.
People who are likely to be unhappy with their results are those with unrealistic expectations for the outcomes, including the recovery period. This can occur if people are not provided with sufficient information throughout the surgical process, but particularly before making their final decision to proceed.
What’s changing?
According to the new standards, services need to ensure their own advertising is not misleading, does not create unreasonable expectations of benefits, does not use patient testimonials, and doesn’t offer any gifts or inducements.
For some clinics, this will mean very little change as they were not using these approaches anyway, but for others this may mean quite a shift in their advertising strategy.
It will likely be a major challenge for clinics to monitor all of their patient communication to ensure they adhere to the standards.
It is also not quite clear how the advertising standards will be monitored, given the expanse of the internet.
What about the mental health assessment?
The new standards say clinics must have processes to ensure the assessment of a patient’s general health, including psychological health, and that information from a patient’s referring doctor be used “where available”.
According to the guidelines from the Medical Board of Australia, which the standards are said to complement, all patients must have a referral, “preferably from their usual general practitioner or if that is not possible, from another general practitioner or other specialist medical practitioner”.
While this is a step in the right direction, we may be relying on medical professionals who may not specialise in assessing body image concerns and related mental health conditions. They may also have had very little prior contact with the patient to make their clinical impressions.
So these doctors need further training to ensure they can perform assessments efficiently and effectively. People considering surgery may also not be forthcoming with these practitioners, and may view them as “gatekeepers” to surgery they really want to have.
Ideally, mental health assessments should be performed by health professionals who are extensively trained in the area. They also know what other areas should be explored with the patient, such as the potential impact of trauma on body image concerns.
Of course, there are not enough mental health professionals, particularly psychologists, to conduct these assessments so there is no easy solution.
Ultimately, this area of health would likely benefit from a standard multidisciplinary approach where all health professionals involved (such as the cosmetic surgeon, general practitioner, dermatologist, psychologist) work together with the patient to come up with a plan to best address their bodily concerns.
In this way, patients would likely not view any of the health professionals as “gatekeepers” but rather members of their treating team.
If you’re considering cosmetic surgery
The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, which developed the new standards, recommended taking these four steps if you’re considering cosmetic surgery:
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have an independent physical and mental health assessment before you commit to cosmetic surgery
-
make an informed decision knowing the risks
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choose your practitioner, knowing their training and qualifications
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discuss your care after your operation and where you can go for support.
My ultimate hope is people safely receive the care to help them best overcome their bodily concerns whether it be medical, psychological or a combination.
Gemma Sharp, Associate Professor, NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow & Senior Clinical Psychologist, Monash University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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One Critical Mistake That Costs Seniors Their Mobility
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Will Harlow, the over-50s specialist physio, advises what to do instead:
Nose over toes
Often considered the most important test of mobility in later life (or in general, but later life is when it tends to decline) is the ability to get up off the floor without using your arms.
Many seniors, meanwhile, struggle to get out of a chair without using their arms.
Now, sitting in chairs in the first place is not good for the health, but that’s another matter and beyond the scope of today’s article.
If, perchance, you struggle to get up from a chair (especially if it’s low/deep, like many armchairs are) without using your hands, then here’s the way to do it:
- While practicing, cross your arms in front of you, so that you cannot use them.
- Shuffle yourself towards the front of the chair. No, don’t use your arms for this either, do a little butt-walk instead, to get you to the front edge of the chair.
- Lean forwards to position your nose over your toes (hence the mnemonic: “nose over toes”; memorize that!), as this will put your center of gravity where it needs to be.
- Now, push with your feet to rise up and forwards; slowly is better than quickly (quickly may be easier, but slowly will improve your strength and balance).
For more on all of this plus a visual demonstration, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like to read:
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