Effects of magnesium supplementation on serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels and cognitive function in patients undergoing fluoxetine therapy for depression.

This randomised study tested magnesium as an add-on to fluoxetine in 40 outpatients aged 18 to 50 years with depression in Makassar, Indonesia. Twenty participants continued fluoxetine alone for 6 weeks and 20 received fluoxetine plus 350 mg of oral magnesium once daily. Serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and cognition was assessed using the Indonesian Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA-Ina, at baseline and week 6. Both groups improved significantly on MoCA-Ina from baseline, according to the abstract. The conclusion states that magnesium plus fluoxetine was associated with greater cognitive improvement than fluoxetine alone. It also reports a positive association between changes in serum BDNF and cognitive improvement, especially in the magnesium group. The supplied abstract does not provide the MoCA-Ina change, BDNF concentrations, between-group p-values, or clinical depression outcomes. This was an adjunctive treatment study in people with depression already receiving an antidepressant. It cannot show whether magnesium improves cognition in healthy people, whether it treats depression on its own, or whether the observed effect persists after 6 weeks.

Magnesium supplementation as an adjunct to fluoxetine was associated with greater cognitive improvement than fluoxetine alone in patients with depression.