AssessingtheEvidenceofMicronutrientson DepressionamongChildrenandAdolescents: AnEvidenceGapMap

Abstract

Thereissomeevidenceindicatingthatnutritionmayhavetheabilitytoprevent,treat,and/orinfluencetheseverityofdepression.Theaimsofthis evidencegapmap(EGM) aretoprovideanoverviewandtodetermineevidencegapsintheexistingresearchonmicronutrientsandtheirimpact ondepressionamongchildrenandadolescents.Weconductedacomprehensivesearchinmultipledatabasesofprimaryandsecondaryliterature assessingtheimpactofmicronutrientsondepression-relatedoutcomessuchasunipolardepression,majordepressivedisorders,dysthymia,acute depression, and mood disorders. Abstracts and full-text articles were dual-screened based on predefined eligibility criteria. A total of 30 primary researchpublicationswereincludedintheEGM.About47%ofincludedstudiesfocusedonlateadolescents(15–19y),∼40%onearlyadolescents (10–14 y), and∼13% on children aged 6–9 y. Among the included studies, 8 studies examined a single micronutrient intervention and 22 studies examinedmicronutrientconcentrations(eitherintakeorserum),andtheirimpactondepression.Themostfrequentlystudiedmicronutrientswere vitaminD(n=8),zinc(n=8),iron(n=6),folate(n=7),andvitaminB-12(n=5).Morelongitudinalstudiesandtrialsareneededtodeterminethe roleofmicronutrientsintheetiologyandtreatmentofdepressionamongchildrenandadolescents