Department of Neurology of the Medical Faculty of Charles University and University Hospital in Hradec Kralove, Sokolska 581, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic.
Nutrients. 2020 Mar 7;12(3):710. doi: 10.3390/nu12030710.
The aim of this review is to systematically review the evidence whether proper nutrition has a positive impact on the prevention or decline of depressive symptoms among elderly people. In addition, possible connections between nutrition, microbiome, and serotonin molecules and its tryptophan precursor are discussed. The methodology follows the PRISMA guidelines, including the PRISMA flow chart. The authors systematically reviewed peer-review, English-written articles published in Web of Science and PubMed between 2013 and 2018. The findings of six original articles, detected on the set inclusion and exclusion criteria, indicate that there is an association between nutrition and depressive symptoms in the target group, i.e., that proper nutrition has a positive impact on the prevention or reduction of depressive symptoms among elderly people. The findings also reveal that there is a considerable correlation between the intakes of vitamin B and a decrease in the prevalence of depressive symptoms. Furthermore, sufficient nutrient intake of tryptophan appears to be an important factor in terms of nutrition and serotonin levels in the body. The authors consider it important to explore associations between the overall dietary intake and depression since diets are not consumed as individual nutrients. Returning to preventive approaches seems to be a rational way to promote the mental health of seniors. Future studies thus need to include interdisciplinary collaboration: from a good diagnosis of the disease by a psychiatrist, through an analysis of the need for nutrient metabolism by a biochemist to the development of a nutritional plan by a nutritional therapist. The limitations of this review consist in a relatively small number of the studies on this topic, including just few randomized controlled trials, which are a guarantee of efficacy and objectivity in comparison with cross-sectional studies.
本综述的目的是系统地回顾证据，即适当的营养是否对预防或减轻老年人的抑郁症状有积极影响。此外，还讨论了营养、微生物组和 5-羟色胺分子及其色氨酸前体之间的可能联系。该方法遵循 PRISMA 指南，包括 PRISMA 流程图。作者系统地回顾了 2013 年至 2018 年间在 Web of Science 和 PubMed 上发表的同行评审的英文文章。根据设定的纳入和排除标准，六项原始文章的研究结果表明，营养与目标人群的抑郁症状之间存在关联，即适当的营养对预防或减轻老年人的抑郁症状有积极影响。研究结果还表明，维生素 B 的摄入量与抑郁症状的患病率下降之间存在显著相关性。此外，色氨酸的充足营养摄入似乎是营养和体内 5-羟色胺水平的一个重要因素。作者认为，探索整体饮食摄入与抑郁之间的关联很重要，因为饮食不是作为单一营养素摄入的。回归到预防方法似乎是促进老年人心理健康的合理途径。因此，未来的研究需要包括跨学科合作：从精神科医生对疾病的良好诊断，到生物化学家对营养代谢需求的分析，再到营养治疗师制定营养计划。本综述的局限性在于，关于这一主题的研究数量相对较少，包括很少的随机对照试验，与横断面研究相比，随机对照试验是疗效和客观性的保证。
