The Advertising Standards Authority has ordered Patrick Holford to withdraw the claim that Mood Food supports mood and mental vitality.

John Joska's article drew a strongly worded response from one of our regular readers. I do not have the knowledge, training or expertise to give an opinion. Nevertheless, and with some trepidation, I have put together a small collection of what I suspect are key studies of antidepressants, including their conclusions or main findings. I hope you find it useful. You are welcome to add others in the comments. If they are peer-reviewed studies published in reputable journals, I will add a Further Reading section to this article and link to them.

Depression is a common and disabling illness that may occur in about 10% of the population at any time. There are lots of conflicting opinions about anti-depressants on the web and in the media. Dr John Joska of the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of Cape Town has written an article for Quackdown addressing some of the misconceptions about these medicines.