For women with antenatal depression, micronutrients might help them and their babies – new study
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.
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.
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:
-
Fatty Acids For The Eyes & Brain: The Good And The Bad
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.
Good For The Eyes; Good For The Brain
We’ve written before about omega-3 fatty acids, covering the basics and some lesser-known things:
What Omega-3 Fatty Acids Really Do For Us
…and while we discussed its well-established benefits against cognitive decline (which is to be expected, because omega-3 is good against inflammation, and a large part of age-related neurodegeneration is heavily related to neuroinflammation), there’s a part of the brain we didn’t talk about in that article: the eyes.
We did, however, talk in another article about supplements that benefit the eyes and [the rest of the] brain, and the important links between the two, to the point that an examination of the levels of lutein in the retina can inform clinicians about the levels of lutein in the brain as a whole, and strongly predict Alzheimer’s disease (because Alzheimer’s patients have significantly less lutein), here:
Now, let’s tie these two ideas together
In a recent (June 2024) meta-analysis of high-quality observational studies from the US and around the world, involving nearly a quarter of a million people over 40 (n=241,151), researchers found that a higher intake of omega-3 is significantly linked to a lower risk of macular degeneration.
To put it in numbers, the highest intake of omega-3s was associated with an 18% reduced risk of early stage macular degeneration.
They also looked at a breakdown of what kinds of omega-3, and found that taking a blend DHA and EPA worked best of all, although of people who only took one kind, DHA was the best “single type” option.
You can read the paper in full, here:
Association between fatty acid intake and age-related macular degeneration: a meta-analysis
A word about trans-fatty acids (TFAs)
It was another feature of the same study that, while looking at fatty acids in general, they also found that higher consumption of trans-fatty acids was associated with a higher risk of advanced age-related macular degeneration.
Specifically, the highest intake of TFAs was associated with a more than 2x increased risk.
There are two main dietary sources of trans-fatty acids:
- Processed foods that were made with TFAs; these have now been banned in a lot of places, but only quite recently, and the ban is on the processing, not the sale, so if you buy processed foods that contain ingredients that were processed before 2021 (not uncommon, given the long life of many processed foods), the chances of them having TFAs is higher.
- Most animal products. Most notably from mammals and their milk, so beef, pork, lamb, milk, cheese, and yes even yogurt. Poultry and fish technically do also contain TFAs in most cases, but the levels are much lower.
Back to the omega-3 fatty acids…
If you’re wondering where to get good quality omega-3, well, we listed some of the best dietary sources in our main omega-3 article (linked at the top of today’s).
However, if you want to supplement, here’s an example product on Amazon that’s high in DHA and EPA, following the science of what we shared today 😎
Take care!
Share This Post
-
Healthy Habits for Managing & Reversing Prediabetes – by Dr. Marie Feldman
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.
The book doesn’t assume prior knowledge, and does explain the science of diabetes, prediabetes, the terms and the symptoms, what’s going on inside, etc—before getting onto the main meat of the book, the tips.
The promised 100 tips are varied in their application; they range from diet and exercise, to matters of sleep, stress, and even love.
There are bonus tips too! For example, an appendix covers “tips for healthier eating out” (i.e. in restaurants etc) and a grocery list to ensure your pantry is good for defending you against prediabetes.
The writing style is very accessible pop-science; this isn’t like reading some dry academic paper—though it does cite its sources for claims, which we always love to see.
Bottom line: if you’d like to proof yourself against prediabetes, and are looking for “small things that add up” habits to get into to achieve that, this book is an excellent first choice.
Share This Post
-
IBS diets don’t work for everyone – new research shows why, and it’s not just about the food
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.
If you’ve ever tried a diet to fix gut symptoms, you’ll know it can be hit or miss. One person swears it changed their life. Another follows it carefully and feels no better.
This is especially true for irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS. It’s a common condition that causes stomach pain, bloating and changes in bowel habits.
Many people with IBS are told to try the low-FODMAP diet. This reduces certain carbohydrates (known as FODMAPs) that the gut absorbs poorly. These are fermented by gut bacteria, producing gas and drawing water into the bowel, which can trigger symptoms.
Reducing FODMAPs – found in foods such as onions, garlic, apples, wheat and some dairy products – can help ease symptoms. The diet usually involves restricting these foods for a short period, then slowly reintroducing them to identify which ones trigger symptoms in each person.
For many people, it works. But for many others, it doesn’t. Our new research helps explain why.
We found the effectiveness of a low-FODMAP diet for IBS doesn’t come down to food alone, but also how the gut and brain work together.
Ivan Pantic/Getty Images Different levels of gut sensitivity
IBS affects how the brain and gut communicate. Signals travel between them, shaping how sensitive the gut is and how strongly symptoms are felt.
A simple way to think about it is as a volume dial. For some people, the gut is turned up, so even normal digestion can feel uncomfortable or painful. For others, the dial is lower.
Food matters, but it is only part of the picture. The brain can also turn symptoms up or down, influenced by stress, anxiety about gut symptoms, and expectations about how the body will respond.
To understand this, we studied 112 adults with IBS over six months as they completed the three phases of the low-FODMAP diet. Participants worked with a dietitian through restriction, reintroduction and personalisation, allowing us to track how symptoms changed as foods were removed and then reintroduced.
We measured symptoms, quality of life and psychological factors such as anxiety and expectations. We used statistical modelling to identify response patterns and what predicted improvement.
The brain can turn symptoms up or down. Oscar Wong/Getty Images What we found
Some people improved quickly and stayed better. Others improved only slightly, or not at all, even after completing all phases of the diet. We found psychological factors played a major role in whether the diet worked.
Importantly, the difference was not just what people ate, but how they thought and felt about their symptoms and treatment.
People who believed the diet would help were more likely to improve. This is called “treatment expectancy” and is seen across health care.
People with high gut-focused anxiety were less likely to improve. This means they were very worried about their gut and more sensitive to normal sensations, like gas or movement in the bowel.
People who felt more in control of their symptoms also tended to do better.
These factors often changed before symptoms improved. This suggests the brain may help drive changes in symptoms.
This doesn’t mean IBS is “all in your head”. The symptoms are real and can have a big impact on daily life.
The gut and brain are closely linked. Stress and anxiety can change how sensitive the gut feels and how strongly symptoms are experienced – for example, many people notice “butterflies” in their stomach during stress.
What does this mean?
Right now, IBS treatment is often trial and error, with diet changes commonly tried first, followed by psychological therapies if needed.
Our findings suggest we may need to rethink this approach.
Some people may benefit more from psychological approaches, such as stress-reduction or cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). These can help people reframe unhelpful thoughts about their gut, reduce anxiety, and gradually face foods or situations they fear may trigger symptoms.
Others may respond well to diet alone. And many may need both.
If we can identify these differences earlier, for example by assessing anxiety or expectations, we could better match people to the right treatment.
This research marks a shift in how we understand IBS. It’s not just a food problem. It’s shaped by the interaction between diet, the gut and the brain.
For people living with IBS, this could mean fewer restrictive diets, less frustration and faster access to treatments that work.
For clinicians, it opens the door to more personalised care, where treatment is tailored to how a person’s gut-brain system is working.
In the end, improving IBS care may not be about finding the perfect diet. It may be more about understanding how the gut and brain work together, and using that to guide the right treatment.
Jessica Biesiekierski, Associate Professor of Human Nutrition, The University of Melbourne
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Share This Post
-
What Happens To Your Body When You Stop Drinking Alcohol
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.
Immediately after we stop drinking is rarely when we feel our best. But how long is it before we can expect to see benefits, instead of just suffering?
Timeline
After stopping drinking alcohol for…
- Seconds: the liver starts making progress filtering out toxins and sugars; ethanol starts to leave the system
- 1 hour: fatigue sets in as the body uses a lot of energy to metabolize and eliminate alcohol. However, sleep quality (if one goes to sleep now) is low because alcohol disrupts the brain patterns required for restful sleep
- 6–12 hours: the immune system starts recovering from the suppression caused by alcohol
- 24 hours: immune system is back to normal; withdrawal symptoms may occur in the case of heavy drinkers
- 3–5 days: resting blood pressure begins to drop, as stress levels decrease (alcohol may seem anxiolytic, but it is actually anxiogenic; it just masks its own effect in this regard). Also, because of insulin responses improving, appetite reduces. The liver, once it has finished dealing your last drinking session (if you used to drink all the time, it probably had a backlog to clear), can now begin to make repairs on itself.
- 1 week: skin will start looking better, as antidiuretic hormone levels neutralize, leading to a healthier maintenance of hydration
- 2 weeks: cognitive abilities improve as the brain begins to make progress in repairing itself. At the same time, kidneys start to heal.
- 3–4 weeks: the liver begins to regenerate in earnest. You may wonder what took it so long given the liver’s famous regenerative abilities, but in this case, the liver was also the organ that took the most damage from drinking, so its regeneration gets off to a slow start (in contrast, if the liver had “merely” suffered physical trauma, such as being shot, stabbed,
or eaten by eagles,it’d start regenerating vigorously as soon as the immediate wound-response had been tended to). Once it is able to pick up the pace though, overall health improves, as the liver can focus on breaking down other toxins. - 1–2 months: the heart is able to repair itself, and start to become stronger again (dependent on other lifestyle factors, of course).
- 3 months and more: bodily repairs continue (for example, the damage to the liver is often so severe that it can take quite a bit longer to recover completely, and repairs in the brain are always slow, for reasons beyond the scope of this article). Looking at the big picture, at this point we also see other benefits, such as reduced cancer risks.
In short… It’s never too soon to stop, but it’s also never too late, unless you are going to die in the next few days. So long as you’ll be in the land of the living for a few days yet, there’s time to enjoy the benefits of stopping.
Most importantly: the timeline for the most important repairs is not as long as many people might think, and that itself can be very motivating.
For more detail on much of the above, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like to read:
- Can We Drink To Good Health?
- How To Reduce Or Quit Alcohol
- Addiction Myths That Are Hard To Quit
- How To Unfatty A Fatty Liver
Take care!
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:
-
Is Your Diet Causing You Hair Loss?
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.
When it comes to diet and hair health, most people know to get vitamin something, consume a mineral or so (usually zinc), and skip the polonium.
But, there’s a little more to it than most people realize:
Foods For & Against
Researchers (Dr. Beatriz Teixeira et al.) investigated, by means of a huge literature review (taking data from 17 observational studies, with 613,320 participants, of whom, mostly women), what things actually matter the most, for and against.
First, what not to do:
Foods and drinks that worsen hair loss include sugar-sweetened beverages, and even more strongly, alcohol:
- Sugar spikes cause inflammation that disrupts hair cycles
- Alcohol contributes in a whole stack of ways, both directly and indirectly, including:
- nutrient deficiencies (hypothesis: due to people drinking a higher portion of their calories in alcohol rather than eating nutritious food)
- poor absorption of nutrients (because alcohol causes the body to do almost everything worse, and especially messes with the gut, and not in a good way—one might struggle to spell “dysbiosis” when one’s had a tipple or two too many, but suffice it to say, alcohol causes the gut microbiome to swing wildly in the direction of Bad Things™, including C. albicans, also called simply Candida, the fungus which puts its roots through your intestinal walls, making holes there giving you leaky gut syndrome, and also interfaces with your nervous system via its roots that escape the gut and access the vagus nerve, and thus gives you cravings for more alcohol/sugar/flour, by sending false signals up to your brain) (we’re not exaggerating, check out the papers we cited in the relevant section of this article on gut health)
- liver stress (because that’s where alcohol is metabolized, and our liver is not supposed to have to do that much work)
- poor sleep (because of how it disrupts brain function, including while sleeping, at which time the brain’s job is normally “restore this” and it can’t do that correctly while impaired)
- systemic inflammation (because of the combination of the above plus the fact that the alcohol itself is toxic, and even when metabolized, produces sugars that also worsen inflammation)
Now, some things most people know about:
Zinc and biotin (vitamin B7) deficiencies can cause thinning; adults need 30 μg vitamin B7 daily from foods like seeds, nuts, and sweet potatoes (to pick some out from the paper; there are plenty more options, of course). The researchers concluded that beyond that, extra supplementation is unlikely to help without deficiency.
Now, into lesser-known things:
Insufficient protein can trigger shedding; the researchers suggest about 0.5 g per pound of body weight daily, which is a very normal recommendation. We wrote about this more here: How Much Protein Do We Need, Really?
On which note, the researchers also tentatively recommend considering collagen, but note that while it seems entirely reasonable that it should help, the actual science is mostly not there for it yet (i.e. mostly hasn’t been done). Most collagen RCTs have been about skin health or joint health; less about hair. For more on that though, do see our research review on this: We Are Such Stuff As Fish Are Made Of
And if you are vegetarian/vegan? Worry not, because you can simply enjoy The Best Foods For Collagen Production, picking the vegetarian/vegan options in each category as applicable.
And as for other supplements of note:
- Persimmon leaf: linked to better hair density and thickness through antioxidants like quercetin that improve scalp blood flow; available as tea or supplements.
- Pumpkin seed oil: in a study of men with male pattern baldness, 400 mg daily for 24 weeks led to greater growth, likely by reducing DHT, the hair-thinning hormone (it does more things than that, but that’s what’s relevant here—actually, while we’re on this, let’s note for the record that while DHT thins head hair, it increases body hair, which for many people isn’t a combination they’re hoping for)
- Vitamin D: five studies found higher levels protective against hair loss; a suggested dose is 2,000 IU daily, though excess carries toxicity risk, so do keep within the recommended bounds (and double-check what other supplements have “plus vitamin D” tagged on, and/or foods “fortified with vitamin D”).
- Iron: supplementation improved growth in women; absorption is best when paired with vitamin C; dietary sources include spinach, lentils, and almonds. See also: The Iron Dilemma: Factors To Consider
Finally, in the category of specific foods that were mostly strongly associated with healthy hair growth, the researchers highlighted:
- Cruciferous vegetables (e.g. broccoli, cauliflower, kale, sprouts, etc) likely due to antioxidant and anti-inflammatory phytochemicals, and especially sulforaphane.
- Soy products (especially edamame & tofu, i.e., the least-processed of soy products) likely due to the top-tier amino acid profile, plus that while the phytoestrogens can’t be used as estrogens in the body (not compatible), they can be broken down and the “ingredients” used to produce your own estrogen, if (and only* if) you have working ovaries.
- *Ok, so that was technically a lie; if you have working testes, then these can and do also produce estrogen, but in truly truly tiny amounts, and more than counterbalanced by the testosterone they produce. We wrote a bit about the science of ovaries and testes doing each other’s jobs, here. So if you are a reader with working testes rather than ovaries, then be aware: you could not physically eat enough soy to cause them to crank out enough estrogen to make the slightest change to your hair or any other part of your body. So our original statement stands, for all practical purposes: soy products will only increase your E levels if you have working ovaries to produce the E in question.
You can read the paper in full, here: Assessing the relationship between dietary factors and hair health: A systematic review
Want to learn more?
If you want to get very serious about it, you might want to consider: Hair-Loss Remedies, By Science
And/or if you want to go a drug-free route but without relying solely on diet, then check out: Gentler Hair Health Options
Take care!
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:
-
Lychees vs Strawberries – Which is Healthier?
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.
Our Verdict
When comparing lychees to strawberries, we picked the strawberries.
Why?
Strawberries enjoy modest to strong wins in each category:
In terms of macros, lychees have more carbs, while strawberries have more fiber, winning.
In the category of vitamins, lychees have more of vitamins B2, B3, B6, and C, while strawberries have more of vitamins A, B1, B7, B9, E, and K, winning this round too.
Looking at minerals, lychees have more copper, phosphorus, potassium, and selenium, while strawberries have more calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, and zinc, once gain winning.
In other considerations, strawberries have more polyphenols, which is one more win.
Adding up the sections makes for a clear overall in for strawberries, but do enjoy either or both, as diversity is best!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Are You Getting The Right Kinds Of Flavonoids?
Enjoy!
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:
