Table 7.

Assessment of dietary mineral intake and prevalence of depressive symptoms.

Authors	Year of Publication	Type of Study	The Group	Assessment of Depression and Dietary Intake	Results and Conclusions
Magnesium
Anjom-Shoae et al. [147]	2018	Cross-sectional study	n = 3172 adults	Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and dish-based 106-item Semi-quantitative FFQ (DS-FFQ)	Among normal-weight men and overweight women, a significant inverse association was found between magnesium intake and depression.
Sun et al. [148]	2019	Cross-sectional study	n = 17,730 adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey	Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and two 24 h dietary recall interviews	Lower magnesium intake was associated with a higher risk of depression, particularly in the female group. In all age groups, the inverse association between dietary magnesium intake and risk of depression was statistically significant.
Chou et al. [149]	2023	Cross-sectional study	n = 4615 adults	5-Item Brief Symptom Rating Scale (BSRS-5) and Serum Magnesium (mg/dL) and dietary magnesium intake (mg)—24 h dietary recall questionnaire	Serum magnesium concentration was inversely correlated with the occurrence of depressive symptoms, which was not shown for the dietary magnesium intake. Serum magnesium was poorly correlated with dietary magnesium. The level of serum magnesium was negatively associated with depressive symptoms in the sample, in the men, but not in the women.
Zinc
Hajianfar et al. [150]	2021	Cross-sectional study	n = 142 female students	The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and Semi-quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ)	In Iranian female students, an inverse association was observed between dietary zinc intake and mood disorders, including depression, and some indicators of sleep disturbance.
Hu et al. [151]	2022	Cross-sectional study	n = 31,839 adults	Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9 and two 24 h dietary recall interviews	Especially in the female population, low dietary intakes of zinc and vitamin A were significantly associated with depression. In the low zinc intake group, the risk of depression was significantly reduced with increased total vitamin A intake.
Selenium
Ghimire et al. [152]	2019	Cross-sectional study	n = 7725 adult participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)	Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and 24 h dietary recall interview	An inverse relationship was observed between participants’ dietary selenium intake and depressive symptoms. There was no association between serum selenium levels and depressive symptoms.
Ferreira de Almeida et al. [153]	2021	Cross-sectional study	n = 736 adult farmers	Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview and three 24 h dietary recall interviews	A high intake of selenium is associated with a lower incidence of depression, even after taking into account sociodemographic variables, lifestyle factors, and pesticide poisoning.
Copper
Nakamura et al. [154]	2019	Cross-sectional study	n = 2089 adults	Kessler’s six-item psychological distress scale (K6) and the FFQ include 87 food items and ask about the usual consumption rates and portion sizes during the previous month.	Low intakes of zinc, copper, and manganese were associated with depressive symptoms. For calcium, magnesium, and iron, the inverse relationship was not statistically significant.
Iron
Li et al. [155]	2018	Cross-sectional study	n = 14,834 adults	Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and 24 h dietary recall	Participants with depression had significantly lower total daily zinc, iron, copper, selenium, and energy intakes than those without depression. Higher zinc, iron, copper, and selenium intake was negatively associated with depression, and negative associations with copper and selenium intake remained statistically significant after considering potential confounders.
Calcium
Shen et al. [156]	2023	Cross-sectional study	n = 14,971 adults	Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and 24 h dietary recall	Even after adjusting for a large number of potential confounders, calcium intake was negatively associated with the risk of depressive symptoms. The incidence of depressive symptoms decreased as calcium intake increased.
Various Minerals
Sánchez-Villegas et al. [157]	2018	Cohort study	n = 13,983 students	136-item validated Semi-quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) and structured clinical interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I)	A deficiency of 4 nutrients at baseline increased the risk of depression (folic acid, magnesium, calcium, and potassium) in this longitudinal study of a middle-aged population.
Salehi-Abargouei et al. [158]	2019	Cross-sectional study	n = 3846 adults	Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Semi-quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ)	It has been shown that higher intakes of B12, zinc, phosphorus, saturated fats, cholesterol, B5, and B6 are associated with a reduced risk of major depression in men and a reduced risk of psychological distress in women.
Yun et al. [159]	2021	Cross-sectional study	n = 10,106 adults	Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and nutrient intake and dietary habit information of the K-NHANES were used as independent variables.	Sugar, sodium, vitamin A, water, fat, saturated fatty acids, omega-6 fatty acids, dietary fibre, and frequency of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and eating out were significantly associated with depression.
Ferriani et al. [160]	2022	Longitudinal study	n = 14,737 adults	Clinical Interview Schedule Revised (CIS-R) and Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ)	A significant inverse relationship was found between depression and a higher intake of selenium, zinc, vitamins B6 and B12 in the sample. Among women, a similar pattern of correlation was observed, in addition to higher intakes of vitamins A and C. Among men, a significant inverse relationship between depression was only observed with vitamin B12 and B6 intake. The incidence and severity of depression may be reduced by increasing intake of selected micronutrients.