Citation

Maury AA, Holton KF. Nutrients 2024; 16(14).

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, MDPI Publishing)

DOI

10.3390/nu16142255

PMID

39064698

PMCID

PMC11280460

Abstract

Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a chronic multi-symptom neurological disorder affecting veterans of the Gulf War that is commonly comorbid with depression. A secondary data analysis was conducted to examine serum homocysteine and inflammatory cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α) as potential biomarkers of depression improvement among veterans with GWI after a one-month dietary intervention aimed at reducing excitotoxicity and increasing micronutrients. Analyses, including multiple linear and logistic regression, were conducted in R studio. Dietary adherence was estimated using a specialized excitotoxin food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), and depression was measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. After one month on the diet, 52% of participants reported a significant decrease in depression (p < 0.01). Greater dietary adherence (FFQ) was associated with increased likelihood of depression improvement; OR (95% CI) = 1.06 (1.01, 1.11), (p = 0.02). Reduced homocysteine was associated with depression improvement after adjusting for FFQ change (β = 2.58, p = 0.04), and serum folate and vitamin B12 were not mediators of this association. Reduction in IFN-γ was marginally associated with likelihood of depression improvement (OR (95% CI) = 1.11 (0.00, 1.42), (p = 0.06)), after adjustment for potential confounders.

FINDINGS suggest that homocysteine, and possibly IFN-γ, may serve as biomarkers for depression improvement in GWI. Larger trials are needed to replicate this work.

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Adult; Female; Male; Middle Aged; depression; Diet; biomarkers; *Biomarkers/blood; *Depression/blood; *Homocysteine/blood; *Persian Gulf Syndrome/blood/diet therapy/complications; *Veterans; Cytokines/blood; dietary intervention; Gulf War Illness; homocysteine; inflammatory cytokines; low-glutamate diet