Forty years ago, as a student at Harvard Medical School’s Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology headed toward a career in psychiatry, I became intrigued by a molecule that went by the acronym SAMe—S-Adenosylmethionine.
I did original research on SAMe in relation to the nutritional needs of men and women with mental health disorders and discovered that levels of this substance were lower in women than men, and lower in individuals with depression than in the general public?
Our History
Over the years, as I worked in both research and clinical practice, I have come across a number of research findings suggesting that depressed patients are deficient in other key nutrients. These include the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil, particularly EPA, or eicosapentanoic acid, and L-methylfolate, a metabolite of the ubiquitous nutrient folic acid. These two substances were also studied in numerous clinical trials that showed daily consumption supported the nutritional deficiencies of individuals experiencing depression when combined with antidepressant medication prescribed under the care of a physician.
Dr. Vuckovic tells the Hedonia story:
Unfortunately, these substances, while available, were not of uniform quality or convenient to use, and cannot be easily consumed in the normal diet alone at the levels sufficient to manage a depressed patient’s dietary needs. I began to think if I could find a consistent, high-quality source for these three substances and if I could combine them, I could create a naturally-based formulation to provide a medical food designed specifically for the dietary management of the unique nutritional needs of patients with depression.
