A new extract from red clover could reduce depression in postmenopausal women by almost 80 percent, claims a group of Austrian researcher in a new study.

The study was performed by researchers at General Teaching Hospital Korneuburg, led by Markus Lipovac, and involved 109 postmenopausal women over 40 years of age. The women were divided in two groups and for 90 days one group received supplements containing 80mg of red clover isoflavones and the other received a placebo pill.

At the end of the study, the depression symptoms were reduced by 78 percent in women who were given red clover isoflavones supplements compared to those who received the placebo, measured on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). On the Self Zung Depression Rating Scale (SDS) the depression symptoms were reduced by 80 percent.

But the benefits of red clover isoflavones are not limited only to reducing depression symptoms. “Equally red clover isoflavones protected human cortical neurons against glutamate toxicity and oxidative stress, which could have been the result of their antioxidant and estrogenic actions,” said Markus.