Depression reduced by Vitamin D – literature review

Created February 2018

Association between mental disorders, cognitive disturbances and vitamin D serum level: Current state

Clinical Nutrition ESPEN, Vol 23, Feb 2018, Pages 89-102, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnesp.2017.11.011

* Anti-depression medication about as good as big increase in vitamin D – meta-analysis of flawless data April 2014 * Omega-3 improves gut bacteria, reduces inflammation and depression – Dec 2017 * In addition to Vitamin D Omega-3 and Magnesium also decrease Depression * * Depression category listing has items along with related searches * Cognitive category listing has items along with related searches** --- Pages listed in BOTH the categories Intervention AND Depression {category}

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Background & aims

Vitamin D deficiency has been identified as a global problem. Approximately 14% of the world population has inadequate vitamin D levels. This vitamin has been usually associated with bone disorders such as rickets, osteomalacia, and osteoporosis. However, these disorders present only a small part of all the disturbances which can be induced by its deficiency. Low serum vitamin D is associated with development of cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome and even cancer. This vitamin may be an important factor in the development of psychiatric illnesses, therefore clinicians should not leave this serious issue unresolved. The aim of this review is to describe the current data concerning the association between vitamin D serum levels, cognition and mental disorders.

Methods

We conducted a systematic bibliographical research, of PubMed, MedLine literature and Cochrane database without language restriction to identify all publications concerning this issue from 1995 to the first quarter of 2017.

Results

We found 48,937 articles concerning vitamin D, published during the last 22 years and 3 months (1995–2017). We selected only those publications focused on the association between vitamin D serum deficiency and mental disturbances (depression, schizophrenia, cognitive disturbances, attention deficit disorder, and autism). One hundred and sixty-seven papers were found suitable to our selection criteria. Careful evaluation of the relevant literature demonstrates that addition of vitamin D to conventional antidepressive agents can improve antidepressive effect in contrast to placebo. Regarding other mental conditions there are no clear-cut conclusions.

Conclusions

An association between low vitamin D serum levels and different mental disorders was found. Yet, nonetheless there is no clear consensus that addition of vitamin D improves or is related to a beneficial effect on mental health. More randomized clinical control trials should be performed in order to reach evidence based conclusions.

Tags: Depression