Dietary interventions for perinatal depression and anxiety: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. 2023

Zoe Tsai, and Nirmay Shah, and Umair Tahir, and Neda Mortaji, and Sawayra Owais, and Maude Perreault, and Ryan J Van Lieshout
Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: zoe.tsai@uottawa.ca.

Dietary interventions are a widely available mediation for depression and anxiety among pregnant and/or postpartum (i.e., perinatal) persons, but their effectiveness is not well known. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the effectiveness of dietary interventions for the treatment of perinatal depression and/or anxiety. We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Web of Science from their inception to 2 November, 2022. Studies were included if they were available in English and examined the effectiveness of a dietary intervention for perinatal depression and/or anxiety in a randomized controlled trial. Our search identified 4246 articles, of which 36 were included and 28 were eligible for meta-analysis. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) were not found to improve symptoms of perinatal depression compared to control conditions [standardized mean differences (SMD): -0.11; 95% CI: -0.26 to 0.04]. These results neither changed when examined during pregnancy or the postpartum period separately nor varied according to the fatty acid (FA) ratio. Elemental metals (iron, zinc, and magnesium) were also not found to be superior to placebo (SMD: -0.42; 95% CI: -1.05 to 0.21), although vitamin D yielded a small to medium effect size improvement (SMD: -0.52; 95% CI: -0.84 to -0.20) in postpartum depression. Iron may help in those with confirmed iron deficiency. Narrative synthesis was performed for studies ineligible for meta-analyses. Despite their widespread popularity, PUFAs and elemental metals do not appear to effectively reduce perinatal depression. Vitamin D taken in doses of 1800-3500 International Units per day may be, to some extent, promising. Additional high-quality, large-scale randomized controlled trials are needed to determine the true effectiveness of dietary interventions on perinatal depression and/or anxiety. This study was registered at PROSPERO (registration date: 5 July, 2020; CRD42020208830).

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007501 Iron A metallic element with atomic symbol Fe, atomic number 26, and atomic weight 55.85. It is an essential constituent of HEMOGLOBINS; CYTOCHROMES; and IRON-BINDING PROTEINS. It plays a role in cellular redox reactions and in the transport of OXYGEN. Iron-56,Iron 56
D011247 Pregnancy The status during which female mammals carry their developing young (EMBRYOS or FETUSES) in utero before birth, beginning from FERTILIZATION to BIRTH. Gestation,Pregnancies
D003863 Depression Depressive states usually of moderate intensity in contrast with MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER present in neurotic and psychotic disorders. Depressive Symptoms,Emotional Depression,Depression, Emotional,Depressive Symptom,Symptom, Depressive
D005231 Fatty Acids, Unsaturated FATTY ACIDS in which the carbon chain contains one or more double or triple carbon-carbon bonds. Fatty Acids, Polyunsaturated,Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid,Unsaturated Fatty Acid,Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids,Acid, Polyunsaturated Fatty,Acid, Unsaturated Fatty,Acids, Polyunsaturated Fatty,Acids, Unsaturated Fatty,Fatty Acid, Polyunsaturated,Fatty Acid, Unsaturated,Unsaturated Fatty Acids
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D001007 Anxiety Feelings or emotions of dread, apprehension, and impending disaster but not disabling as with ANXIETY DISORDERS. Angst,Anxiousness,Hypervigilance,Nervousness,Social Anxiety,Anxieties, Social,Anxiety, Social,Social Anxieties
D014807 Vitamin D A vitamin that includes both CHOLECALCIFEROLS and ERGOCALCIFEROLS, which have the common effect of preventing or curing RICKETS in animals. It can also be viewed as a hormone since it can be formed in SKIN by action of ULTRAVIOLET RAYS upon the precursors, 7-dehydrocholesterol and ERGOSTEROL, and acts on VITAMIN D RECEPTORS to regulate CALCIUM in opposition to PARATHYROID HORMONE.
D016032 Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic Works about clinical trials that involve at least one test treatment and one control treatment, concurrent enrollment and follow-up of the test- and control-treated groups, and in which the treatments to be administered are selected by a random process, such as the use of a random-numbers table. Clinical Trials, Randomized,Controlled Clinical Trials, Randomized,Trials, Randomized Clinical

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