If you feel depressed after pigging out on chips, chocs and a chunky pie, it maybe more than just your guilty conscience at work. It could be what you're not eating that's causing you to feel so bad. Like the folate, found in green vegetables.

"Folate is very important for us to have. It's been found to be associated with thinking and memory and mood as well but when you get folate from green vegetables you get more than just the vitamins, you're getting a whole host of other things as well."

While knowing about folate deficiency, Dr.Janet Bryan from Australia's science agency, CSIRO, also suspected that B6 and B12 were involved in mood change and improved thinking. So she tested two hundred and forty women with a series of quizzes. They were then given folate, B6, B12 or a placebo over 5 weeks, before being tested again.

"We're looking at the effects of the vitamins on various aspects of cognitive performance, or thinking and memory and mood so what we do is give people questionnaires that assess their mood, how they're feeling and also a series of tests of thinking and memory and these are like brain teaser puzzles."

Previous tests had been carried out on the elderly and those suffering from Alzheimer's disease, but the participants in the CSIRO test were randomly selected. They were all women, because of the higher vitamin deficiency rates in females. Those given folate supplements did perform better in memory tests and on planning, whereas those on B12 experienced lower fatigue and those on B6 performed better verbally.

So when you're told to eat your greens from now on, you'll know that it's a clever idea.

CSIRO Enquiries
Email: Enquiries@csiro.au
Phone: 1300 363 400
Locked Bag 10
Clayton South
VIC 3169

Janet.Bryan@csiro.au