Our bodies need the right amount of vitamin D to function normally, both physically and mentally, and there is a growing body of evidence linking lack of vitamin D with depression.
now a new meta-analysis of 41 previous studies suggests that taking vitamin D supplements can alleviate depressive symptoms in people who have already been diagnosed with depressionopening up a possible alternative treatment option.
In addition to controlling calcium and phosphate levels in the body, vitamin D is thought to help regulate various functions in the central nervous system, and previous research in animals suggests it might even contribute to control of chemical balances in the brainwhich may explain the association between vitamin D and mental health.
“These findings will encourage further high-level studies clinical trials in patients with depression to shed more light on the possible role of vitamin D supplementation in the treatment of depression,” says Tuomas MikolaPhD researcher and lead author at the University of Eastern Finland.
The new meta-analysis covered a total of 53,235 participants from 41 studies, including those with and without depression, people taking vitamin D supplements and people taking placebos, and individuals with a variety of physical conditions.
While the doses used varied, the typical vitamin D supplement was 50 to 100 micrograms per day. In participants with depression, vitamin D supplements were shown to be more effective than placebos in relieving depressive symptoms.
Vitamin D supplementation appeared to be more effective in shorter bursts (less than 12 weeks), the researchers report. However, in healthy individuals, it was the placebos that had a slightly greater impact on depressive symptoms.
“Our results suggest that vitamin D supplementation has beneficial effects in both people with major depressive disorder and those with milder, clinically significant depressive symptoms,” the researchers write in their published article.
With depression now recognized as the leading cause of disability worldwide – which affects more than 280 million people each year – and antidepressants are not effective for everyone, more treatment options urgently need to be explored.
However, before we get ahead of ourselves, the data we have so far is not enough to prove that low vitamin D levels cause depression, or that supplements are an effective treatment. Although this new meta-analysis shows a link, prior investigation has not been so conclusive.
While a meta-analysis like this is useful for comparing the results of large numbers of people, the different approaches and factors in each individual study make it more difficult to draw broad conclusions, despite much work being done to correlate the information in the whole studio. studies as a whole.
However, more statistical analysis will be required to know the story for sure: through studies of larger general and clinical populations, and by looking at different amounts of doses and different durations of treatment, for example.
“Despite the broad scope of this meta-analysis, the certainty of the evidence remains low due to the heterogeneity of the populations studied and the risk of bias associated with a large number of studies.” says mikola.
The research has been published in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition.
