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Intakes of folate, vitamin B6 and B12 and risk of depression in community-dwelling older adults: the Quebec Longitudinal Study on Nutrition and Aging

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 70, pages 380–385 (2016)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

Depression can decrease quality of life and affect health outcomes in older population. We investigated whether different intake levels of folate, vitamin B6 and B12 were associated with a 3-year depression incidence among generally healthy, community-dwelling older men and women.

Subjects/Methods:

Participants in the Québec Longitudinal Study on Nutrition and Aging (NuAge), free of depression (that is, 30-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) <11) at baseline (N=1368; 74±4 years old; 50.5% women), were screened annually for incident depression (GDS ⩾11) or antidepressant medication. Tertiles of intakes (food only and food+supplements) were obtained from the mean of three non-consecutive 24-h recalls at baseline. Sex-stratified multiple logistic regression models were adjusted for age, physical activity, physical functioning, stressful life events and total energy intake.

Results:

Over 3 years, 170 participants were identified as depressed. Women in the highest tertile of B6 intake from food were 43% less likely to become depressed when adjusting for demographic and health factors (multivariate odds ratio (OR) 0.57, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.39–0.96), but adjustment for energy intake attenuated the effect. Men in the highest tertile of dietary B12 intake had decreased risk of depression (energy-adjusted multivariate OR 0.42, 95% CI 0.20–0.90). No other association was observed.

Conclusions:

This study provides some evidence of decreased depression risk among women with higher intakes of vitamin B6 from food, which was dependent on total energy intake, and among men with higher intakes of B12 from food, independently of energy intake.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the men and women of the NuAge cohort for their generous participation in the study and the research personnel for their highly professional and devoted work. The NuAge study was supported by the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR), grant no. MOP-62842, the Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Québec (FRSQ) and the Québec Network for Research on Aging.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Nutrition, St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada

    L Gougeon

  2. School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, McGill University, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, Canada

    L Gougeon & K Gray-Donald

  3. Research Center on Aging, CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada

    H Payette

  4. Department of Science and Community Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada

    H Payette

  5. Department of Experimental Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    J A Morais

  6. Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal Research Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    P Gaudreau

  7. Département de Médecine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

    P Gaudreau

  8. Département de Nutrition, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

    B Shatenstein

  9. Centre de Recherche, Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, CIUSSS du Centre-est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    B Shatenstein

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  1. L Gougeon
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to L Gougeon.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

This work was presented in part, as a poster, at the 42nd Canadian Association on Gerontology’s Annual Meeting, 17–19 October 2013, Halifax, NS, Canada.

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Gougeon, L., Payette, H., Morais, J. et al. Intakes of folate, vitamin B6 and B12 and risk of depression in community-dwelling older adults: the Quebec Longitudinal Study on Nutrition and Aging. Eur J Clin Nutr 70, 380–385 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2015.202

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