Human symbiosis of health

Depression is a complex disease with multiple contributing factors. The diagnostic criteria for depression include:

• Depressed or irritable mood
• Decreased interest in pleasurable activities and ability to experience pleasure
• Significant weight gain or loss (>5% change in a month)
• Insomnia or hypersomnia
• Psychomotor agitation or retardation
• Fatigue or loss of energy
• Feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt
• Diminished ability to think or concentrate
• Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide
  (Berton O, et al. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2006)

Chances are that you have felt several of the above criteria but yet you may not have associated it with depression.

This is because depression is a broad term that may affect one person differently to the next, along with having a diverse range of possible causations.

Below is a list of some of the factors that can lead to depression and apathy:

• Trauma
• PTSD
• Abuse
• Post-natal depression
• Adverse childhood exposure
• Lack of safety
• Economic struggles
• Autoimmunity
• Social isolation
• Heartbreak
• Social media
• Lack of purpose
• S.A.D – Seasonal Affective Disorder (Vitamin D deficiency)
• Mold exposure
• Anaemia
• Sex hormone imbalances (Low/high oestrogen, low testosterone)
• Hypo/hyper thyroidism
• Stress
• Pain
• Chronic illness
• Genetic traits
• Methylation issues
• Heavy metal toxicity
• Parasites
• Nutrient deficiencies (B6, etc)
• Nutrient excess
• Artificial light exposure
• Poor sleep
• Mitochondrial dysfunctions
• Poor gut health
• Gut/brain axis inflammation
• Cytokine model of depression
• Medication
• Loss of a loved one
• Divorce
• Substance abuse
• Neurotransmitter imbalances
• Lyme
• Toxic and ambivalent relationships

Each reason, being so unique, may require a completely different approach for therapy from the next.

This reverberates a quote of William Osler, stating ‘It is much more important to know what sort of a patient has a disease than what sort of a disease a patient has’. Unfortunately, society generally neglects the beauty of individuality whilst overlooking the crucial interplay and synergy from the multifactorial systems essential for optimal function within our body.

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The effectiveness of Vitamin B6 in the treatment of PMS dates back over 40 years. Results were noted, such as:

• ‘Significant decreases in all symptoms’ (1)
• 70% reporting good or partial response’ (2)
• ‘Improvement in 63% of patients on pyridoxine’ (3)

The dose used within these studies ranged from 40-200mg (with a possible risk of toxicity at 200mg).

Only one patient of the 940 participating in these trials indicated the presence of any side effects that could be attributed to the neuropathy associated with pyridoxine toxicity. (4)

A meta-analysis of nine published trials involving almost 1,000 women with PMS found that vitamin B6 is more effective in reducing PMS symptoms than placebo. (5)

A double-blind, randomized controlled trial in 94 women found that 80 mg pyridoxine taken daily over the course of three cycles was associated with statistically significant reductions in a broad range of PMS symptoms, including:

• Moodiness
• Irritability
• Forgetfulness
• Bloating
• Anxiety (6)

Below are my preferred dietary sources of Vitamin B6 per 100g:

• Liver – 1mg
• Salmon – 0.9mg
• Sunflower Seeds – 1.33mg
• Pistachios – 1.7mg

The recommended daily allowance sits around 1.3mg, which makes an easy target to obtain via food.

However, to achieve the dosage used in the above studies is between 30-153 times higher than the RDA, making it unachievable to obtain through diet alone.

As you can see here, Designs For Health provides 50mg of Vitamin B6 in just one capsule. This is in the form of Vitamin B6 in its most bioavailable form – P5P.

Magnesium and Vitamin B2 are required for the conversion of P5P. The deficiency rates of magnesium make this conversion much harder.

High protein diets or genetic susceptibilities (such as NBPF3) are factors that can increase the need for more Vitamin B6.

Have you ever used B6 for your PMS?

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References:

1. Goei and Abraham, 1983
2. Brush, 1988
3. Day, 1979
4. London RS, et al. 1991
5. Wyatt KM, et al. BMJ 1999
6. Kashanian M, et al. 2007

In a meta-analysis assessing the mineral intake of approximately 3,000 women. It found that eating an iron-rich diet (20mg per day) was linked to a 30-40% lower risk of developing premenstrual syndrome when compared to the lowest intake of iron (around 10mg per day) (Am J Epidemiol. 2013 May).

Menstruating women lose around 40% more iron per day when compared to men, with some studies stating how heavy menstrual bleeding is one of the leading causes of anemia in the developed world (Liu Z, et al. 2007).

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey indicates that 12-16% of non-pregnant women (aged 16-49 years) have iron deficiency, with 2-4% having anemia.

Increasing iron intake through diet and supplementation for two months has been shown to reduce PMS symptoms considerably in all anemic women (Mitesh Sinha et al. 2013).