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Association of Mood Disorders with Serum Zinc Concentrations in Adolescent Female Students

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Abstract

Among various factors influencing mood disorders, the impact of micronutrient deficiencies has attracted a great attention. Zinc deficiency is considered to play a crucial role in the onset and progression of mood disorders in different stages of life. The main objective of this study was to assess the correlation between serum zinc levels and mood disorders in high school female students. This cross-sectional study was conducted on a random sample of 100 representative high school female students. The participants completed 24-h food recall questionnaires to assess the daily zinc intakes. Serum zinc status was assessed using flame atomic absorption spectrometry, and zinc deficiency was defined accordingly. Mood disorders were estimated by calculating the sum of two test scores including Beck’s depression inventory (BDI) and hospital anxiety depression scale (HADS) tests. General linear model (GLM) and Pearson’s regression test were applied to show the correlation of serum zinc levels and mood disorder scores and the correlation between zinc serum levels and BDI scores, respectively. Dietary zinc intake was higher in subjects with normal zinc concentrations than that of zinc-deficient group (p = 0.001). Serum zinc levels were inversely correlated with BDI and HADS scores (p < 0.05). Each 10 μg/dL increment in serum zinc levels led to 0.3 and 0.01 decrease in depression and anxiety scores, respectively (p < 0.05). Serum zinc levels were inversely correlated with mood disorders including depression and anxiety in adolescent female students. Increasing serum levels of zinc in female students could improve their mood disorders.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank all the participants and their parents and also the colleagues at the high school who kindly co-operated with us.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition, School of Paramedicine, Health Research Institute, Diabetes Research Center, Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, 61357-15794, Iran

    Kobra Tahmasebi, Reza Amani & Sara Moazzen

  2. Food Security Center, School of Nutrition and Food Science, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Reza Amani

  3. Department of Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, Jundishapur University, Ahvaz, Iran

    Zahra Nazari

  4. Department of Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

    Kambiz Ahmadi

  5. Psychiatry Research Center, Roozbeh Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Seyed-Ali Mostafavi

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  1. Kobra Tahmasebi
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  2. Reza Amani
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  4. Kambiz Ahmadi
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  6. Seyed-Ali Mostafavi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Reza Amani.

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Funding

This study was a part of Ms. Kobra Tahmasebi’s MSc thesis, and the laboratory costs were covered by a grant of Vice-chancellor for Research at the Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

“All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from parents of all subjects and assent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.”

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Tahmasebi, K., Amani, R., Nazari, Z. et al. Association of Mood Disorders with Serum Zinc Concentrations in Adolescent Female Students. Biol Trace Elem Res 178, 180–188 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-016-0917-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-016-0917-7

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