New berry juice can banish ‘baby blues’

A SUPPLEMENT kit containing blueberry juice has been shown to banish the “baby blues”.

Scientists designed the treatment to counteract feelings of sadness that often afflict women after giving birth.

The supplement package contained tryptophan and tyrosine to compensate for the loss of mood-regulating brain chemicals, as well as blueberry extract and juice which are powerful antioxidants.

A group of 21 women given the supplements showed no signs of low-mood three to six days after giving birth.

In contrast, 20 mothers randomly chosen not to have the treatment produced significant increases in psychological test scores for depression after their babies were born.

Lead researcher Dr Jeffrey Meyer, from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Canada, said: “Developing successful nutrition-based treatments, based on neurobiology, is rare in psychiatry.

“We believe our approach also represents a promising avenue for creating other new dietary supplements for medicinal use.”

Days after giving birth, women experience a surge in the brain protein MAO-A which breaks down three “feelgood” chemicals, serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine.

The loss of these brain chemicals can result in feelings of sadness. MAO-A levels peak five days after giving birth, precisely when post-partum “baby blues” are most pronounced.

In severe cases, baby blues can lead to full-blown and clinically diagnosed post-partum depression, which affects 13 per cent of new mothers.

Dr Meyer said: “We believe this is the first study to show such a strong, beneficial effect of an intervention in reducing the baby blues at a time when post-partum sadness peaks.”