近日，国际营养学杂志The Journal of Nutrition在线发表了中科院上海生科院营养科学研究所柯尊记研究组和林旭研究组合作的最新研究成果。该研究揭示了在中国中老年人群中维生素B1缺乏与抑郁症密切相关。
维生素B1即硫胺素，在人体内以游离硫胺素、硫胺素单磷酸酯（TMP）、硫胺素焦磷酸酯（TDP）和硫胺素三磷酸酯（TTP）的四种形式存在，其中，TDP是最主要的生物活性形式。TDP是糖代谢途径中关键酶的辅酶，在维持神经系统功能完整性中起着重要的作用。研究表明，维生素B1缺乏能够导致线粒体功能紊乱和慢性氧化应激，这两者均被认为是抑郁症发病的潜在机理。实验研究证实补充维生素B1能改善产后抑郁症。维生素B1的主要膳食来源是全谷类食物。随着我国正进入快速的营养转型期，谷物的过度加工以及脂肪和动物性食物供能比例的显著提高使得我国居民维生素B1摄入水平呈现逐年下降的趋势。之前的《中国居民营养与健康状况调查报告》显示，我国居民维生素B1摄入低于推荐摄入量（RNI）的比例高达80%。
林旭研究团队的张赓博士和柯尊记研究团队的丁涵青等人通过建立红细胞维生素B1数据库，应用高效液相色谱的方法检测了1587名参加“中国老龄人口营养健康状况研究”的京沪城乡居民体内游离硫胺素、TMP和TDP的浓度，并将这些结果与抑郁症进行了相关性研究。结果显示，在该研究人群中，维生素B1缺乏和抑郁症比例分别为28.2%和11.3%。随着维生素B1浓度降低，罹患抑郁症的风险显著上升，提示维生素B1缺乏与抑郁症发病存在相关性。该研究成果为今后进一步研究B族维生素在心理及精神疾病进程中的作用机制提供了重要理论依据和新的思路。
该项目获得了中科院上海生科院首席科学家项目，中科院知识创新工程重大项目，国家自然科学基金、科技部973项目等资助。（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi: 10.3945/jn.112.167007
PMC:
PMID:
Thiamine Nutritional Status and Depressive Symptoms Are Inversely Associated among Older Chinese Adults
Geng Zhang, Hanqing Ding, Honglei Chen, Xingwang Ye, Huaixing Li, Xu Lin, and Zunji Ke
Thiamine has been hypothesized to play an important role in mental health; however, few studies have investigated the association between thiamine nutritional status and depression in the general population. Concentrations of free thiamine and its phosphate esters [thiamine monophosphate (TMP) and thiamine diphosphate (TDP)] in erythrocytes were measured by HPLC among 1587 Chinese men and women aged 50–70 y. The presence of depressive symptoms was defined as a Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale score of ≥16. The median erythrocyte concentration (nmol/L) was 3.73 for free thiamine, 3.74 for TMP, and 169 for TDP. The overall prevalence of depressive symptoms was 11.3%. Lower concentrations of all 3 erythrocyte thiamine biomarkers were monotonically associated with a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms: the multivariable adjusted ORs comparing the lowest with the highest quartiles were 2.97 (95% CI = 1.87, 4.72; P-trend < 0.001) for free thiamine, 3.46 (95% CI = 1.99, 6.02; P-trend < 0.001) for TMP, and 1.98 (95% CI = 1.22, 3.21; P-trend = 0.002) for TDP. In conclusion, poorer thiamine nutritional status and higher odds of depressive symptoms were associated among older Chinese adults. This finding should be further investigated in prospective or interventional studies.
