Mental Illness and Vitamin D

All items in category Winter Blues/Depression and Vitamin D items

Sample of mental illness items on VitaminDWiki:

• Hypothesis: Some Mental Illness could be treated or prevented with vitamin D many studies

• Better Mental, Emotional and General health with better vitamin D – Oct 2017

• 99 percent of psychiatric population had less than 30 ng of vitamin D – June 2013

• Fewest Google searches for Mental Health when there is lots of vitamin D from the sun – May 2013

• Mental health problems cut in half when have adequate level of vitamin D – Jan 2013

• Psychiatric disorders 4X more likely in teens if low vitamin D - Nov 2011

• Children with mental disorders have somewhat less vitamin D levels (graph) Jan 2014

• vitamin D variations and mental health - Aug 2010 Nice graphs

• Depression 50 % more likely if low vitamin D in early pregnancy – Aug 2012

• Psychosis in dark skinned people 3.5 X higher if low level of vitamin D – May 2012

• Less than 20 ng vitamin D increases depression by 80 %– Dec 2010

• Pregnant blacks 50 % more likely to be depressed if just 3 ng less vitamin D – July 2012

• Teens no longer depressed after vitamin D raised to 36 ng – Feb 2012

  • The teen study used a loading dose for 1 month and got great results in just 3 months

• Much less depression if higher than 43 ng of vitamin D – Oct 2012

• First episode psychosis associated with a 33 percent lower vitamin D in 3 races – Sept 2013

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The Role of Vitamin D Deficiency in Mental Illness - Mercola Dec 2024

2 videos

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Low vitamin D when indoors most of the time - from VitaminDWiki

• Prisoners have very low vitamin D and get TB, influenza, and depression

• Prisoners in psychiatric wards have very low levels of vitamin D – Oct 2012

• Prison doctor on lack of vitamin D in solitary confinement – July 2013

• 43 reasons for Vitamin D deficiency - a few of the sun-related reasons are below

  • Air conditioning - to avoid the hot sun
  • Increased use of multi-media indoors - TV, DVD, video games, and internet access
  • More indoor jobs - more office workers, fewer farmers
  • Want whiter skin - especially dark-skinned women
  • Fear skin cancer
  • Indoor due to health problems, senior living,

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VitaminDWiki - Overview Schizophrenia and Vitamin D contains

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VitaminDWiki – Depression category contains

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VitaminDWiki - Suicide associated with low vitamin D contains:

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See also web

• Clinical Trials for Depression with vitamin D intervention 20 INTERVENTION trials listed as of Aug 2013

• Depression at Vitamin D Council

  • Note: Dr. Cannell found the benefits of vitamin D while working with mentally ill prisoners, who, like many other prisoners, have little access to the sun
• Mental Health Disorders Now Leading Cause of Non-Fatal Illness Worldwide Mercola Sept 2013
  • Lancet: mental disorders and substance abuse combined were the leading cause of non-fatal illness worldwide in 2010, contributing nearly 23 percent of the total global disease burden!
  • Mentions vitamin D: people with the lowest levels of vitamin D were 11 times more prone to be depressed than those who had normal levels

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Fact 1 Smoking decreases vitamin D.

Fact 2 Low vitamin D is associated with mental illness

Hypothesis: smoking decreases vitamin D, which increases mental illness

• Smoking reduces vitamin D - many studies - one example: Low vitamin D was 1.8 X more likely among smokers – June 2012

• People With Mental Illness More Likely to Be Smokers, Study Finds NY Times Feb 2013

  • 40% of men and 34% of women with mental illness smoke. compared with one in five adults without mental illness
  • Adults with mental illness smoke about a third of all the cigarettes in the United States

The following graphic from the CDC shows that those who already have low vitamin D due to dark skin do not smoke as much

see also on VitaminDWiki Smoking reduces vitamin D - many studies

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Update: Some mental hospitals are no longer encouraging smoking by patients

Smoking, Once Used to Reward, Faces a Ban in Mental Hospitals New York Times Feb 2013

A great many reasons for the reversal.

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Sesame Street Mental Disorders - 2018