Dietary total antioxidant capacity is inversely associated with depression, anxiety and some oxidative stress biomarkers in postmenopausal women: a cross-sectional study | Annals of General Psychiatry | Full Text

Dietary total antioxidant capacity is inversely associated with depression, anxiety and some oxidative stress biomarkers in postmenopausal women: a cross-sectional study | Annals of General Psychiatry | Full Text



Annals of General Psychiatry

Dietary total antioxidant capacity is inversely associated with depression, anxiety and some oxidative stress biomarkers in postmenopausal women: a cross-sectional study

• Maryam Abshirini, 
• Fereydoun Siassi, 
• Fariba Koohdani, 
• Mostafa Qorbani, 
• Hadis Mozaffari, 
• Zahra Aslani, 
• Mahshid Soleymani, 
• Mahdieh Entezarian & 
• Gity Sotoudeh 

Annals of General Psychiatryvolume 18, Article number: 3 (2019) | Download Citation

Abstract

Background

Postmenopausal women are at higher risk of mental disorders. Oxidative stress has implication in the development of these disorders. Dietary total antioxidant capacity (DTAC) has been proposed as a tool for assessing dietary antioxidants intake. The relationship between DTAC with depression, anxiety and stress has not been investigated in postmenopausal women. Thus, we aimed to assess the association between DTAC and depression, stress and anxiety as well as oxidative stress biomarkers.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was carried out on 175 postmenopausal women. Data on dietary intake and mental health were collected by 147-item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) and Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-42), respectively. Dietary and serum total antioxidant capacity (TAC), malondialdehyde (MDA), oxidized-LDL, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were measured. ANOVA test was applied to compare the mean of variables across the tertiles of DTAC. The relationship between DTAC and oxidative stress biomarkers was determined through ANCOVA method. Simple and multivariate linear regression tests were performed to measure the relationship between DTAC and mental health.

Results

Serum MDA level was significantly lower in the subjects at the highest tertiles of DTAC (P-value < 0.001). In addition, serum TAC level was significantly higher in subjects at the second tertile of DTAC (P-value = 0.04). DTAC was inversely and independently related to depression (β = − 0.16, P-value = 0.03) and anxiety scores (β = − 0.21, P-value = 0.007). There was no significant association between DTAC and stress score (β = − 0.10, P-value = 0.1).

Conclusion

An inverse relationship was found between DTAC with depression, anxiety scores and some oxidative stress biomarkers in postmenopausal women. These findings indicate DTAC may be used for developing effective dietary measures for reducing depression and anxiety in these women.