(SALT LAKE CITY)—Women battling stubborn major depression may have a surprising new ally in their fight—the muscle-building dietary supplement creatine.
在一个新的概念验证研究中, researchers from three South Korean universities and the University of Utah report that women with major depressive disorder (MDD) who augmented their daily antidepressant with 5 grams of creatine responded twice as fast and experienced remission of the illness at twice the rate of women who took the antidepressant alone. 这项研究发表于8月8日. 3、2012年，在 美国精神病学杂志 在线, means that taking creatine under a doctor's supervision could provide a relatively inexpensive way for women who haven't responded well to SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) antidepressants to improve their treatment outcomes.
“如果大发娱乐能让人们更快地感觉好起来, 他们更有可能坚持治疗, 最终, 有更好的结果,佩里·F说。. Renshaw, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A, USTAR professor of psychiatry at the U of U medical school and senior author on the study.
如果这些初步的研究结果得到进一步的证实, 更大的试验, the benefits of taking creatine could directly affect many Utahns. The depression incidence in Utah is estimated to be 25 percent higher than the rest of the nation, meaning the state has an even larger proportion of people with the disease. This also brings a huge economic cost to both the state and individuals.
根据美国大学最近汇编的数据, the state of Utah paid an estimated $214 million in depression-related Medicaid and disability insurance in 2008. 加上住院和门诊治疗的费用, 药物治疗, 以及工作效率的降低, 在犹他州，抑郁症的总价格达到了1美元.根据美国的估计，2008年将达到30亿美元. 有这么大的数字, any treatment that improves outcomes not only could ease the life of thousands of Utah women but also would save millions of dollars.
"There has been a misunderstanding of how crippling and common this disease is in Utah,伦肖说。, who's also medical director of the Mental Illness 研究, Education and Clinical Center at the Salt Lake City Veterans Affairs Health Care System. “它要求大发娱乐比自己更了解它."
Creatine is an amino acid made in the human liver, kidneys, and pancreas. 它也存在于肉类和鱼类中. Inside the body it is converted into phosphocreatine and stored in muscle. 在高强度运动中, 磷酸肌酸转化为ATP, 是细胞的重要能量来源. 出于这个原因, creatine has become a popular supplement among bodybuilders and athletes who are trying to add muscle mass or improve athletic ability.
How creatine works against depression is not precisely known, but Renshaw and his colleagues suggest that the pro-energetic effect of creatine supplementation, 包括制造更多的磷酸肌酸, may contribute to the earlier and greater response to antidepressants.
The eight-week study included 52 South Korean women, ages 19-65, with major depressive disorder. All the women took the antidepressant Lexapro (escitalopram) during the trial. Twenty-five of the women received creatine with the Lexapro and 27 were given a placebo. Neither the study participants nor the researchers knew who received creatine or placebo. Eight women in the creatine group and five in the placebo group did not finish the trial, 总共有39名参与者.
Participants were interviewed at the start of the trial to establish baselines for their depression, 然后在两点检查, 四个, and eight weeks to see how they'd responded to Lexapro plus creatine or Lexapro and a placebo. The researchers used three measures to check the severity of depression, with the primary outcomes being measured by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), 一个被广泛接受的测试.
The group that received creatine showed significantly higher improvement rates on the HDRS at two and 四个 weeks (32 percent and 68 percent) compared to the placebo group (3.7%和29%). 八周后, half of those in the creatine group showed no signs of depression compared with one-quarter in the placebo group. There were no significant adverse side effects associated with creatine.
Antidepressants typically don't start to work until 四个 to six weeks. But research shows that the sooner an antidepressant begins to work, 治疗效果越好, and that's why Renshaw and his colleagues are excited about the results of this first study. "Getting people to feel better faster is the Holy Grail of treating depression," he says.
该研究的共同作者Tae-Suk Kim， M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry at the Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine and visiting associate professor of psychiatry at the U of U, already is recommending creatine for some of his female depression patients.
In prior studies, creatine had been shown to be effective only in female rats. But that shouldn't rule out testing the supplement in men as well, according to Renshaw.
U of U researchers expect soon to begin another trial to test creatine in adolescent and college-age females who have not responded to SSRI 药物治疗s. 首席研究员Douglas G. 近藤,M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry, says he is looking for 40 females between the ages of 13-21. Recruitment of participants will begin as soon as the U of U Institutional Review Board approves the study, 预计在7月初.