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12.10.2023

Metastudy suggests possible antidepressant effect of vitamin D supplementation

A vitamin D supplement may improve the prospects of people with depression. This is suggested by a Finnish meta-study, in which the results of 41 previously published trials were aggregated and reanalyzed.

Study
In 2022, Finnish researchers published a meta-study in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, in which they combined and reanalyzed the results of 41 trials. In the trials, subjects had received a placebo or a vitamin D supplement and researchers had tried to determine the effect of supplementation on depression.

The trials were diverse. Sometimes the test subjects had a concentration of vitamin D in their blood that doctors considered too low, sometimes not. Sometimes the test subjects also received antidepressants, sometimes not. Sometimes the subjects were diagnosed with depression, sometimes not. The duration of administration and dosage also varied.

Results
Vitamin D supplementation reduced the risk of depression. The effect was not overwhelmingly large, but it was significant.

The results of the trials used by the Finns went in all directions. In addition, the design of many trials left much to be desired and could possibly contribute to bias. The Finns are therefore not very sure about the reported association.

When the Finns broke down their data, they saw that the antidepressant effect of vitamin D was greater in people whose doctors had diagnosed depression.

Dosage was also a factor. If the Finns only looked at trials in which subjects had received 2,000 IU vitamin D or more daily, the outcome was more convincing.

Co-supplementation with calcium in doses of 400-1000 milligrams per day did not increase the possible antidepressant effect of vitamin D. It was just the other way around. The results of the trials in which subjects had only received vitamin D were more convincing.

Source:
Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2022 Jul 11:1-18. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2022.2096560.

More:
Vitamin D supplement reduces risk of suicide 12.04.2023
How summer & sunlight make you smarter and happier 04.11.2022

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Depression
Vitamin D
Vitamins

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