zinc and depression 01-09-2008 While it may not be a universal panacea for all forms of depression zinc may offer much safer management options for those suffering from depression who want to avoid the downside of drugs called SSRIs that are commonly used to manage depression.  What SSRIs do is increase the presence of a substance called brain derived neurotrophic factor that is thought to be the principle means by which they alleviate depression.  It just so happens that zinc works exactly the same way by increasing brain derived neurotrophic factor.  Now I'm not suggesting for a minute that you throw away your medication and start taking zinc as there are no head to head studies comparing the efficacy of zinc with that of SSRIs in managing depression.  What I am suggesting is that as the deficiency of zinc is as commonplace as depression what all physicians need to do long before they prescribe medications is to assess zinc status.  They might be pleasantly surprised how much bolstering zinc status along with magnesium, iron, copper, amino acids and fatty acids might help to treat depression without those awful side effects associated with SSRIs.