Flavonoids, Polyphenols, Carotenoids and Mental Health (Adult Population)

Depression is one of the most prevalent mental health disorders, afflicting thought, emotional state, behavior, and the general welfare of patients. The WHO projects that depression will be the first suspect behind several other prevalent diseases by 2030. Currently, available pharmacological therapy for depression is riddled with poor safety profiles, chronicity of treatment course, and poor response due to the complex nature of these depressive disorders. Furthermore, pharmacotherapeutics cannot be administered until the patients suffer from significant impairment to activities of daily life, and have a narrow scope of physiologic action. In comparison, plant-occurring natural compounds, such as flavonoids, were shown to have a wide scope of physiologic action, interacting with several molecular and neuronal pathways to exert their antidepressant activity. Pannu et al. (2021) speculate that flavonoids would be beneficial in individuals who are on the precipice of developing clinical depression, and endeavored through their review to examine pre-clinical depression studies and the links between the structure and action of flavonoids, and to outline recommendations for clinical trials aimed at developing flavonoid-based novel antidepressants.