New hope for depression sufferers

By Christine O'Brien on 05/20/2010

A diagnosis of depression means many things -- most notably, it usually means getting pumped full of drugs that usually only make the situation worse. We're all familiar with the litany of side effects brought on by Big Pharma's blockbuster anti-depressant drugs. Whatever that bouncing smiley face tells you, they're bad news.

But there has to be something you can do. Depression can't just be left alone.

New research from Japan, reported in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, brings hope to depression sufferers. Researchers at Seitoku University found that daily supplementation with 7 mg of zinc (as zinc gluconate) was associated with significant decreases in measures of anger and depression in young women.

Mood swings are common symptoms of people with zinc deficiency. Curious to find if zinc supplements could boost mood, researchers put a group of young women on either multivitamins or multivitamins plus zinc for 10 weeks.

At the end of the study, the women who had received zinc supplements showed significant reduction in scores of depression and anger.

It's interesting -- previous animal studies have found that only females showed increases in aggression levels when they weren't getting enough zinc.

Of course, this isn't the first time I’ve written about powers of zinc. It's effective for fighting cold and canker sores and is important to maintaining optimum skin health. This is all because it stimulates your immune system by promoting the ability of white blood cells to fight germs.

Dr. Wright recommends a higher level of zinc each day. It's not always easy to get enough zinc in your diet, so he suggests supplementing with 15 mg per day. If you want to try more, it's best to consult with a physician experienced in natural medicine.

Dr. Wright also recommends offsetting your zinc intake with a small quantity of copper (about one milligram per day if you're following the 15 mg/day recommendation for zinc). Zinc supplementation without adequate copper intake raises your risk of having heartbeat irregularities and an imbalance in cholesterol.