Can micronutrients help with antenatal depression?

Women taking micronutrients to treat antenatal depression have fewer birth complications, new research suggests,

University of Canterbury [UC] Professor of Psychology Julia Rucklidge is among a group of researchers who have been comparing the effects of antidepressants during pregnancy with high doses of micronutrients - vitamins and minerals.

Their study at UC's Te Puna Toiora Mental Health and Nutrition Research Lab also included a group of pregnant women without depression, having so-called 'typical births'.

Rucklidge says the women who took micronutrients for eight weeks reported better overall mental health compared to those who recieving the "standard care", meaning antidepressants.

But they also had the best overall birth outcomes of all three groups - with less post-partum haemorrhaging, and less need for resuscitation at birth.

"What we were, to be honest, surprised to find was that in every single measure that we looked at in terms of birth outcomes... the micronutrient group with either on par with the reference group, and better than standard care," she said.

Rucklidge said antenatal depression affected about 20 percent of pregnant women globally.

But she said those women can be reluctant to take antidepressants out of fear it will harm their baby - despite evidence to the contrary saying depression is a bigger risk factor for birth complications.

"So what the micronutrients did was not only did they improve the maternal mental health and reduce depression, but they also mitigated those negative risk factors associated with being depressed," she said.

Rucklidge would like to see more research into the use of micronutrients during pregnancy.

"Doing these studies in pregnancies is quite difficult and, in fact, there's never been a controlled study like this one of antidepressants during pregnancy. So the fact that we have these really positive results with the micronutrients...really gives us confidence that there is something here that is really worthwhile following up on and investing in."

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