Welcome to another edition of Common Ground Online. Here's what's in this week's edition:
- Psychological Bulletin: Vitamins, Minerals, and Mood
- Known Brain Functions of Selected Micronutrients
In the September 2007 issue of the Psychological Bulletin Dr. Bonnie J. Kaplan and colleagues*
took a close look at many of the nutrients that are in EMPowerplus, linking dietary vitamins and minerals (micronutrients) to mood.
The following are brief excerpts from their extensive research:
"Since the 1920s, there have been many studies on individual vitamins (especially B vitamins and Vitamins C, D, and E), minerals (calcium, chromium, iron, magnesium, zinc, and selenium), and vitamin-like compounds (choline). Recent investigations with multi-ingredient formulas are especially promising. However, without a reasonable conceptual framework for understanding mechanisms by which micronutrients might influence mood, the published literature is too readily dismissed.
"Goodwin and Goodwin (1984) pointed out the following: 'The tomato effect in  medicine occurs when an efficacious treatment for a certain disease is ignored or rejected because it does not ‘make sense’ in the light of accepted theories of disease mechanism and drug action'. This type of rejection of effective treatments was so-named because of the fact that tomatoes were grown in the United States for many years only as ornamental foliage, as everyone “knew” that tomatoes were a poisonous nightshade plant whose ingestion would be lethal. Not until a man survived eating a tomato in public view in 1820 did Americans join the Europeans, who had been eating tomatoes in good health since the 16th century.
"Because of this tendency to reject new ideas that do not fit with established paradigms, it is essential that potential mechanisms of nutrient effects on mood be reviewed to 'make sense'."
*Bonnie J. Kaplan: Departments of Pediatrics and Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; and Behavioural Research Unit, Alberta Children’s Hospital, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Susan G. Crawford: Behavioural Research Unit, Alberta Children’s Hospital; Catherine J. Field: Department of Agricultural, Food, and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; J. Steven A. Simpson: Department of Psychiatry, University of Calgary.
The following table, summarizing the necessity of the presence of vitamins and minerals in basic mechanisms in the body, was extracted from Kaplan et al.'s research article in the Psychological Bulletin:
Vitamin/mineral |
Brain function |
| Folate, folic acid (Vitamin B9) |
- Can heighten serotonin function by slowing destruction of brain tryptophan (Cousens, 2000).
- Functions as a cofactor for enzymes that convert tryptophan into serotonin, and for enzymes that convert tyrosine into norepinephrine/noradrenalin (Cousens, 2000).
- Contributes to the formation of compounds involved in brain energy metabolism (Selhub et al., 2000).
- Involved in the synthesis of the monoamine neurotranmitters (Hutto, 1997) and in serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenergic systems (Bottiglieri et al., 2000).
|
| Cobalamin (Vitamin B12) |
- Involved in synthesis of monoamine neurotransmitters (Hutto, 1997).
- Involved in maintaining myelin sheaths on nerves for normal nerve conductance.
- Functions in folate metabolism; hence, deficiency can result in a secondary folate deficiency.
|
| Thiamine (Vitamin B1) |
- Functions as a coenzyme involved in the synthesis of acetylcholine, GABA, and glutamate (I. Bell et al., 1992).
- Can mimic action of acetylcholine in the brain (Meador et al., 1993).
|
| Pyridoxine (Vitamin B6) |
- Plays a basic role in synthesis of many neurotransmitters (dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, epinephrine, histamine, GABA); for example, serves as a cofactor for an enzyme involved in the last step in the synthesis of serotonin (Baldewicz et al., 2000).
- Deficiency tends to selectively reduce brain production of serotonin and GABA (McCarty, 2000).
|
| Vitamin E |
- Protects cell membranes from damage by free radicals (Berdanier, 1998).
- May play a role in reducing brain amyloid beta peptide accumulation, known to be relevant in Alzheimer’s disease (Munoz et al., 2005).
|
| Choline |
- Plays essential roles in structural integrity of cell membranes, cell signaling (precursor to acetylcholine), and nerve impulse transmission; also is a major source of methyl groups for methylation reactions (Zeisel, 2000).
|
| Calcium |
- Important intracellular messenger, and cofactor for enzymes (Milne, 2000).
- Important for release of neurotransmitters, and several forms of chemical signaling between cells.
|
| Chromium |
- Primarily known for its function in glucose and lipid metabolism (Milne, 2000), which may account for its role in mood (McLeod & Golden, 2000).
|
| Iron |
- Essential cofactor for the production of ATP energy in the brain.
- Plays an essential role in hemoglobin for ensuring there is sufficient oxygen in the brain for oxidative metabolism.
- Functions in the enzyme system involved in the production of serotonin, norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine; for example, it is a cofactor in the metabolism of tyrosine to dopamine (Cousens, 2000).
- Increases the binding of dopamine and serotonin to serotonin binding proteins in frontal cortex (Velez- Pardo et al., 1995).
|
| Magnesium |
- Functions as a coenzyme; plays important role in the metabolism of carbohydrates and fats to produce ATP, and in the synthesis of nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) and proteins.
- Important for the active transport of ions (such as potassium and calcium) across cell membranes, and for cell signaling.
- Essential for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body, including maintenance of normal nerve function (Wester, 1987).
|
| Zinc |
- The most abundant intracellular trace element, with roles extending into protein synthesis, as well as structure and regulation of gene expression (Kuby, 1994; Milne, 2000).
- Cofactor for over 200 different enzymes; present in over 300 metalloenzymes involved in virtually all aspects of metabolism (Milne, 2000).
- In the brain, serves in neurons and glial cells. Certain zinc-enriched regions (e.g., hippocampus) are especially responsive to dietary zinc deprivation, which causes brain dysfunctions, such as learning impairment and olfactory dysfunction (Takeda, 2001).
|
| Selenium |
- Essential trace mineral which is part of antioxidant enzymes that protect cells from effects of free radicals.
|
| *Note- GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid); ATP (adenosine triphosphate); DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid); RNA (ribonucleic acid). |
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Click on the reference below to access the full article:
Kaplan BJ, Crawford SG, Field CJ, Simpson JS. Vitamins, minerals, and mood. Psychological Bulletin. 2007 Sep; 133(5): 747-60.
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