The concurrent effects of a weight loss diet and inulin supplementation on meta-inflammation in obese women with major depressive disorder

Abstract

bstract Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most common diseases in the world, especially among women. Also overweight and obesity are common health problems in the world. The mutual relationship between major depressive disorder and obesity has been proven in several studies, inflammation due to obesity and subsequent metabolic conditions caused by inflammation are significant. It seems that some food components such as prebiotics can affect major depressive disorder and obesity by affecting the involved mechanisms. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of The concurrent effects of a weight loss diet and inulin supplementation on meta-inflammation in obese women with major depressive disorder. Methods: In this 8-week double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial,44 obese women with MDD were randomly allocated into two groups ; “prebiotic group” (one sachet of 10 g/day fructooligosaccaride-enriched inulin) or “placebo group” (one sachet of 10 g/day maltodextrin). All patients followed a calorie-restricted diet (%25 reduction) during th intervention. Anthropometric measures, body composition, physical activity, dietary intake as well as serum levels of monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) and toll-like receptor-4 (TLR-4) were assessed. Depression status was assessed using Hamilton depression rating scale (HDRS) before and after the intervention. Results: Results demonstrated that although energy, carbohydrate, fat, protein and tryptophan intakes decreased because of following weight loss diet after 8 weeks, supplementation with fructooligosaccaride-enriched inulin, significant between-group decrease was found for energy intake (p=0/004). Indeed, no significant inter- and intra group diffecrences was found for physical activity level (p=1/000). Although anthropometric measures and body composition decreased in both groups over the intervention, except fat mass in placebo group, the differences in these measures were not statistically significant between the two groups at the end of the study(P=0.001). Serum levels of MCP-1 in both group (P=0.001) and TLR-4 in placebo group (P<0.001) reduced significantly, however, between-group analysis revealed no statistical significant. Moreover, HDRS significantly decreased in both groups (P<0.001) but the difference between the groups were not significant at the end of the study. Conclusion: Despite the beneficial effects of weight loss and dietary restriction on improvement of depressed obese women, inulin supplementation does not seem to have significant effects on meta-inflammation and depression. Key word: inulin, meta-inflammation, MDD, obesity, prebiotic