OK... so regarding depression... stats point to up to 1/4 of the US population being depressed to some degree, sometime throughout their lives... It's one of the main driving causes of visits to general practice physicians, and 1/3 of depressed individuals have a folate deficiency....
So... first, what are neurotransmitters? these are chemicals that are used to transmit a signal from a neuron to some other tissue...
Examples of neurotransmitters include:
- noradrenaline
- epinephrine
- serotonin
- dopamine
Why are these important in relation to depression?
These days pharmacological management of depression is based on the augmentation of neurotransmitter -especially serotonin and dopamine. For one reason or another, neurotransmitters are thought to be depleted, or don't work as well as they should...
Why folate for neurotransmitters?
The amino acid methionine is converted to SAMe which then contributes to the creation of neurotransmitters (and a lot of other stuff!). The breakdown of SAMe is homocysteine which either gets converted (using Vitamin B6) to cysteine, taurine, or glutathione... -Or is converted (using vitamin B12) back to the amino acid methionine again -to start the process over again. Folate supports vitamin B12 to do this. Without folate, the process will eventually wind to a halt, and homocysteine will build up -especially if there's concurrent vitamin B6 deficiency.
Homocysteine is a good marker for deficiency of these vitamins -some folks think it's JUST a marker, while others feel it causes oxidative damage to neuro and vascular tissue. -It may throw a monkey wrench in the synthesis of neurotransmitters.
Here's a video!
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