11 January 2012
Intake of high doses of B vitamins may improve mood and reduce psychological strain associated with chronic work stress, suggests a new Australian study.
In the randomized controlled trial, 60 participants each took either two tablets per day with vitamins B1
(75 mg), B2 (10 mg), B3 (100 mg), B5 (68.7 mg), B6 (25 mg), B12 (30 µg) and folic acid (150 µg) or placebo for a period of three months (1). To assess personality, work demands, mood, anxiety and strain, the participants completed questionnaires at the beginning of the study and after 30 and 90 days of the treatment. The study results showed that after individual differences in personality and work demands were statistically controlled, the vitamin B complex treatment group reported significantly lower personal strain and a reduction in confusion and depressed/dejected mood after 12 weeks. There were no treatment-related changes in other measures of mood and anxiety.
The researchers concluded that B vitamins may be a cost-effective treatment for the mood and psychological strain effects of occupational stress. These findings could have important personal health, organizational and societal outcomes given the rising cost and incidence of workplace stress.
Adequate levels of vitamins and minerals are essential for the optimal performance of a host of physiological processes that have both direct (e.g. neurotransmitter synthesis, receptor binding, membrane ion pump function) and indirect (e.g. energy metabolism, cerebral blood supply) effects on brain function (2).The results of the study are consistent with two previous studies examining multivitamin supplementation and personal (non-work) feelings of strain (3, 4) and suggestive of significant decreases in the experience of workplace stress after 90-day supplementation of a B multivitamin.
12 January 2010
A new US study suggests that vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increased risk of developing diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and peripheral vascular disease.
1 May 2015
Winners of the Nobel Prize in 1985, Professors Joseph Goldstein and Michael Brown of the University of Texas recently wrote a brief history of cholesterol and heart disease over the previous century in Cell – with a highly justified focus on their own groundbreaking research contribution. Whilst heart disease has a number of causes, it is clear than an imbalance in blood lipids signifies an increased risk of heart disease in otherwise healthy individuals and can be seen in those individuals who have already had a heart attack. The best known biomarkers of dyslipidemia are HDL (high density lipoprotein) and LDL (low density lipoprotein), often erroneously referred to as cholesterol. Professors Goldstein and Brown have been able to ascertain plausible mechanism as to how LDLs’ normal healthy function as a cholesterol carrier can be compromised and lead to the formation of atherosclerotic plaques. Some nutritional components in foods have been acknowledged by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as reducing LDL cholesterol levels in the blood e.g., oat beta glucans and olive polyphenols. In a clinical setting, this effect is achieved by administration of a group of pharmaceuticals known as statins.
23 September 2013
A panel of Polish researchers and physicians has drafted new vitamin D recommendations for Central Europeans including practical guidelines on supplementation and prophylactic vitamin D intakes for neonates, infants, children and adolescents as well as adults.
