Blood test to spot if you’re suffering from depression

A BLOOD test has been developed that can diagnose clinical depression by identifying low levels of a chemical in the body that boosts energy.

Scientists found people suffering with depression have lower readings for acetyl-Lcarnitine – and the less of it they have, the more severe their symptoms and the earlier in life the illness is likely to have struck.

Acetyl-L-carnitine (LAC) is sold in high street shops such as Boots as a fitness supplement, and may be important in fighting off depression because it prevents nerve cells over-firing in the brain’s hippocampus and prefrontal cortex – two regions where mood is controlled.

In studies, giving rodents the supplements reversed signs of depression within a few days. But researchers led by Rockefeller University, a biomedical research institute in the US, say it is too early to advise people with depression to take them until clinical trials are carried out.

Dr Natalie Rasgon, a clinical psychiatrist from Stanford University and co-author of the study, said: ‘The findings are an exciting addition to our understanding of the mechanisms of depressive illness.’

The scientists compared LAC levels in the blood of 71 people with depression – 28 with moderate and 43 with severe depression – and 45 healthy people. In both men and women, those with depression had lower levels of the chemical. People who had suffered childhood abuse or neglect had the lowest levels, along with those whose depression had begun at a young age.

Lead author Dr Carla Nasca, from Rockefeller University in New York, added: ‘In patients with depression, something is causing a problem in the mechanisms related to the biology of LAC.’