Mustard Promotes Depressant-Like Activity

By Kyle J. Norton


Depression is a normal response as part of our daily lives such as the loss of s job, the death of a loved one, and illness or a mental health disorder that can affect the way you eat, sleep, and the way you feel about yourself.

According to statistics provided by the WHO, depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Almost 75% of people with mental disorders remain untreated in developing countries with almost 1 million people taking their lives each year. In the US, approximately, 17.3 million adults had at least one major depressive episode. 

The exact causes of depression are not identified. However, researchers suggested genetic preposition, brain chemistry, and change of hormone in the body are some of the common factors associated with the onset of the condition.

Most common symptoms of depression are psychological and physical related problems, including feelings of sadness, tearfulness, emptiness or hopelessness, irritability or frustration, loss of interest  in most or all normal activities, such as sex, hobbies or sports, sleep disturbances, and reduced appetite and weight loss or increased cravings for food and weight gain.

Conventionally, depressant is a type of medicine used as a first-line treatment of depression. Some researchers suggested that making lifestyle changes such as regular moderate exercise, enough sleep, social support, healthy diet, and stress reduction can also contribute to successful depressive management.

Dr. Jerome Sarris and colleagues wrote, "There is now compelling evidence that a range of lifestyle factors are involved in the pathogenesis of depression. Many of these factors can potentially be modified, yet they receive little consideration in the contemporary treatment of depression, where medication and psychological intervention remain the first-line treatments".

And, "“Lifestyle Medicine” provides a nexus between public health promotion and clinical treatments, involving the application of environmental, behavioral, and psychological principles to enhance physical and mental wellbeing".

The mustard plant is a plant species in the genera Brassica and Sinapis belongings to the family Brassicaceae.
On finding a potent compound with depressant activity, researchers evaluated the depressant-like activity of a methanolic extract of B. juncea (Mustard) leaves.

The study included alloxan monohydrate (120 mg/kg, ip) induced diabetic and nondiabetic rodents, pretreatment with methanolic extract of B. juncea leaves (BJ 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg/day, po).

According to all behavioral tests in diabetic rats and mice, pretreatment of all concentration of the methanolic extract of B. juncea leaves and Imipramine exhibited depressant and anti-motor function depressive effects.

Furthermore, repeated daily BJ treatments in a dose-dependent manner also increased the decreased contents of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin associated with stress in the brain of diabetic rats induced alloxan monohydrate.

Moreover, brain dopamine level associated with increased activity in the reward and pleasure areas of the brain of BJ treated normal rats was much higher than that in control nondiabetics.

Based on the findings, researchers said, " BJ could be a nutritional alternative for combating exaggerated depression commonly associated with diabetes".

Taken altogether, mustard may be considered a functional food for the treatment of depression, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Antidepressant-like effects of Brassica juncea L. leaves in diabetic rodents by Thakur AK, Chatterjee SS, Kumar V. (PubMed)
(2) Lifestyle medicine for depression by Jerome Sarris,1,2 Adrienne O’Neil,3,4 Carolyn E Coulson,3 Isaac Schweitzer,1 andMichael Berk. (PMC)