Dietary Intake of Zinc was Inversely Associated with Depression

Abstract

Depression is an important cause of morbidity, and World Health Organization has predicted that it will be the second leading contributor to the global burden of disease by 2020. Postgraduate students are at high risk for depression caused by the stress of examinations, the academic environment, and relationship problems with peers, lecturers, and family members. Physical inactivity, advancing age, unmarried status, and many other factors contribute to the development of depression in humans. Associations between symptoms of depression and the intake of nutrients such as magnesium have been investigated; however, the relationship between zinc intake and depression has not received as much attention. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between dietary intake of zinc and depression in postgraduate students. This study was conducted on 402 participants with a mean age of 32.54 ± 6.22 years, including 173 (43%) women and 229 (57%) men. In this study, we found an inverse relationship between dietary intake of zinc and depression. The results persisted even after we controlled for several potential confounding variables related to depression symptoms, including age, sex, years of education, smoking status (current and past), and physical activity. The results of this study show that long-term intake of zinc may modulate symptoms of depression.

Dietary patterns derived by reduced rank regression (RRR) and depressive symptoms in Japanese employees: The Furukawa nutrition and health study

“…Therefore, the score for dietary patterns analyzed by this method is likely to be associated with the disease. We selected the following six nutrients as potentially protective factors for depression: folate (Gilbody et al, 2007), vitamin C (Woo et al, 2006;Oishi et al, 2009), magnesium (Jacka et al, 2009(Jacka et al, , 2012Yary et al, 2013), calcium (Bae and Kim, 2012), iron (Woo et al, 2006), and zinc (Amani et al, 2010;Jacka et al, 2012;Maserejian et al, 2012;Yary and Aazami, 2012;Vashum et al, 2014). In addition, we found that these nutrients were inversely associated with depressive symptoms in a preliminary analysis in our study population.…”

Dietary zinc intake and the risk of depression in middle-aged men: A 20-year prospective follow-up study

“…An association between depression and zinc intake has also been observed in mixed-gender samples of postgraduate students (Yary and Aazami, 2012) and elderly individuals (Marcellini et al, 2006).…”

Zinc and human health: an update

“…Thus, it seems likely that zinc deficiency in patients with depression may alter hippocampal function, resulting in abnormalities in the secretion of corticosteroids. Induced hyperactivity of the HPA system in depressed patients, caused by increased zinc or other factors, could result in changes in the blood-brain barrier through deregulation of the multidrug resistance protein p-glycoprotein (MDR PGP) (Yary and Aazami 2011). Third, studies have shown that NMDA receptors may be involved in the pathophysiology and treatment of depression, since inhibition of NMDA receptors in animal models of depression mimics the activity of antidepressants.…”

“…Third, studies have shown that NMDA receptors may be involved in the pathophysiology and treatment of depression, since inhibition of NMDA receptors in animal models of depression mimics the activity of antidepressants. Also, zinc may modulate the symptoms of depression, by improving function of the serotonergic system, which is another system linked to depression, and this system can be modulated directly by zinc (Pittenger et al 2007;Szewczyk et al 2009;Yary and Aazami 2011).…”