Association of folate intake with the occurrence of depressive episodes in middle-aged French men and women.
A low folate intake or a low folate status have been found to be associated with a higher frequency of depression in populations, but the existence and the direction of a causal link between folate intake or status and depression is still uncertain. The aim of this study was to seek the relation between the habitual folate intake in middle-aged men and women and the occurrence of depressive episodes. In a subsample of 1864 subjects (809 men and 1055 women) from the French SU.VI.MAX cohort, dietary habits have been measured at the beginning of the follow-up (six 24 h records) and declarations of antidepressant prescription, taken as markers of depressive episodes, have been recorded during the 8-year follow-up. No significant association was observed between folate intake and the risk of any depressive episode or of a single depressive episode during the follow-up, in both men and women. In contrast, the risk of experiencing recurrent depressive episodes (two or more) during the follow-up was strongly reduced in men with high folate intake (OR 0.25 (95 % CI 0.06, 0.98) for the highest tertile v. the lowest, P for trend 0.046). This association was not observed in women. These results suggest that a low folate intake may increase the risk of recurrent depression in men.
Unité Nutrition et Régulation Lipidique des Fonctions Cérébrales (NuRéLiCe), INRA, Centre de Recherche de Jouy-en-Josas, France. pierre.astorg@jouy.inra.fr
Pierre
P
Astorg
Aline
A
Couthouis
Geneviève Potier
GP
de Courcy
Sandrine
S
Bertrais
Nathalie
N
Arnault
Pierre
P
Meneton
Pilar
P
Galan
Serge
S
Hercberg
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003863:Depression / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005494:Folic Acid Deficiency / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D012737:Sex Factors
D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D005492:Folic Acid