Can Inositol Help Reverse Depression?
Over the years, alternative health care practitioners have been advocating a variety of herbs and nutrients for the treatment of depression. One of the nutrients which is widely consumed by depressed individuals is inositol.
Inositol is a simple molecule and used by the body to make important components of the cell membrane. Products made from inositol are believed to play a vital role in signaling events in the body. Most individuals get adequate levels of inositol from food and no one has ever been identified as having inositol deficiency. Further, there is no relationship between depression and inositol levels in the body.
Inositol is readily available in most health food stores without a prescription and recommended for the treatment of a variety of mental disorders, including depression. Because many depressed patients take a number of health supplements and other products, it has been difficult to evaluate the role of inositol. Of course, as with all supplements, the vendors of inositol claim it is a miracle product. As far as consumers are concerned, there are a few anecdotal reports of inositol and depression. The majority of depressed individuals claim that the supplement does nothing.
In the past few years, four double blind trials have evaluated 141 depressed individuals who took inositol. Inositol was compared with an antidepressant or a placebo.
The results?
The results did not show any evidence that inositol had antidepressant activity. Even though most of these studies were of short duration and the sampling population was small, inositol turned out to be just another hyped-up supplement. The only good thing to come of the trials was that the supplement was safe and not associated with any side effects.
So where does the individual with depression stand?
Like many nutrients and herbs, inositol has failed to live up to expectations when it is properly evaluated in clinical studies. Nevertheless, the health supplement industry continues to market the product for many illnesses. A month’s supply of inositol is about $30.
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Add a Comment12 Comments
There have been credible studies on effectiveness of inositol in the treatment of OCD and depression published in medical journals. Your article is clearly biased to an extreme, away of proven effectiveness. Google a little bit.
October 31, 2009 - 8:21amThis Comment
I agree with the comment above. There have absolutely been credible studies published in medical journals on the effectiveness of inositol in treating OCD, depression, panic attacks, and partially anxiety. The most reputable being PubMed, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8780431. Inositol works for me and I could not live as functionally without it. It mainly has helped my OCD but also my panic attacks and depression. All of which are subclinical now. I take 12 grams daily, mixed with water. On a side note, even though inositol is effective, it should never be a first option for those with, or at risk for, major depression.
November 16, 2009 - 10:50pmWhich brand of inositol is good
Can you guys please explain
How much to take everyday for panic disorder and anxiety
(Personal email address removed by moderator.)
Your help would be great
Thank you
January 10, 2011 - 11:39amWhat would you advise seeing a doctor and spending the rest of your life paying for prescription drugs. I love how natural remedies are said to never work but these pills the doctors are paid to push out to us are always said to work great. I have tried many antidepressants and and meds for ocd none worked very well. i now take vitamins and a few supplements and feel better than i have in years. If the doc cant get a cut it dont work i guess.
February 23, 2010 - 11:06pmI agree, there most certainly have been controlled studies that demonstrate the efficacy of inositol in the treatment of depression and anxiety at doses of 12 grams/day. I cannot speak for the effectiveness of inositol, but having been hospitalized for major depression and anxiety, I can attest to the ineffectiveness of the the many antidepressants that I have tried. Prescription antidepressants only work for 30% of sufferers and another 30% receive only marginal results. Yet, Big Pharm sells billions of dollars of the stuff every year. Please consider all options and declare war on your depression. You are your own best doctor.
February 28, 2010 - 1:44pmThe problem with your assessment on Inositol and your statement that it is "just another hyped up supplement" is: didn't alot of people who took SSRIs and SNRIs commit suicide? And that's why they put the warning on the presciption notes of SSRIs and SNRIs nowadays, "May increase the risk of suicide" And isn't it also true that a majority of the people who commited suicide while on SSRIs and SNRIs were children. This is a side effect that we can't afford. We really have to reevaluate the word hype.
May 11, 2010 - 9:50pm"…when it is 'properly' evaluated in clinical studies funded by Big Pharma"
June 3, 2010 - 1:49amThis is a very biased article based on one citation. There *have* been double-blind studies which showed a statistically significant relationship between high-dose inositol and improvement in depression (as well as panic disorder and other mental illnesses). False or biased articles are worse than none at all - for all those looking for a genuine unbiased and scientific review of the evidence, try this article here:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ISW/is_255/ai_n6211958/
And have the cherries too - they are also good for depression :)
June 22, 2010 - 5:20pmYour article is off by a mile. First, as the posters above stated there have been credible studies that show inositol does help depression, anxiety and ocd. Secondly there IS a correlation between inositol levels in the body and depression as decreased prefrontal myo-inositol is seen in those w/ major depression. Lastly you say there are a few anecdotal reports of inositol and depression. Wrong again. There are many people who have been helped by this supplement, me included. As an example, go to iherb.com and you'll see much more positive reviews then negative. This supplement can help someone avoid pharmaceutical meds that can potentially do more harm then good so please stop writing biased articles w/ false information.
August 23, 2010 - 11:42pmWho was taking supplemnet Gaba for anxiety and 5-HTP for depression,insomnia,fibromyalgia and weight loss?
January 19, 2011 - 10:10pm