Dietary flavonoid intake and risk of incident depression in mildlife and older women.

Women who regularly consumed diets containing high amounts of flavonoids are less likely to suffer from depression.

This study evaluated the association between the consumption of flavonoid-rich foods and the occurrence of depression in adult women. Using validated food frequency questionnaires, researchers examined the diets of 82,653 women between the ages of 36 – 80 years recruited from the Nurses’ Health Study I and II Cohorts. The risk of depression was ascertained in every participant in this study.

Researchers observed a low prevalence of depression among frequent consumers of diets high in flavonols, flavones, flavanones, anthocyanins, polymeric flavonoids, and proanthocyanidins. On the other hand, high dietary ingestion of foods rich in flavan-3-ols was found to have little or no effect on depression development risk. The results of this study support the hypothesis that consistent consumption of flavonoid-rich foods may help decrease adult women’s chances of suffering from depression.