Just 1500 IU of Vitamin D significantly helps Prozac – RCT

Created September 2014

Therapeutic effects of vitamin D as adjunctive therapy to fluoxetine in patients with major depressive disorder.

Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2013 Mar;47(3):271-5. doi: 10.1177/0004867412465022. Epub 2012 Oct 23.

Khoraminya N1, Tehrani-Doost M, Jazayeri S, Hosseini A, Djazayery A.

Less depression when Vitamin D added to Prozac Expect that less Prozac would needed if add 1500 IU of vitamin D Wonder if a lot of vitamin D would eliminate the need for Prozac Would not have to wait for 4 weeks to get the Vitamin D beenfit if had used a loading dose to restore levels See also VitaminDWiki * Anti-depression medication about as good as big increase in vitamin D – meta-analysis of flawless data April 2014 * Much less depression if higher than 43 ng of vitamin D – Oct 2012 * Reduced depression with single 300,000 IU injection of vitamin D – RCT June 2013 * Light therapy as a treatment for epilepsy PDF file * Much less depression if higher than 43 ng of vitamin D – Oct 2012 * All items in category Winter Blues/Depression and Vitamin D ** items * * 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 percent – Dec 2010 * Pregnant blacks 50 % more likely to be depressed if 3 ng less vitamin D – July 2012 * High levels of vitamin D associated with somewhat less depression – Mayo Nov 2011 * Depression 40 percent more likely if low vitamin D – Oct 2011 * 36 percent less depression when have high level of vitamin D – July 2011 * 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 * Mental Illness and Vitamin D See also web * [Clinical Trials for Depression with vitamin D intervention](http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?term=depression&recr;=&rslt;=&type;=Intr&cond;=&intr;=vitamin+d&outc;=&spons;=&lead;=&id;=&state1;=&cntry1;=&state2;=&cntry2;=&state3;=&cntry3;=&locn;=&gndr;=&rcv;_s=&rcv;_e=&lup;_s=&lup;_e=) 44 INTERVENTION trials listed as of June 2016 * Blog on this study behind a $5/month firewall at Vitamin D Council Nov 2012 * 42 patients with major depression:half of them 20 mg/day of Prozac, half 20 mg/day of Prozac plus 1,500 IU/day of vitamin D. * Prozac often takes 8 weeks to begin working, but here, after only four weeks vitamin D helped

OBJECTIVE:

To compare the therapeutic effects of vitamin D3 plus fluoxetine and fluoxetine alone in patients with major depressive disorder.

METHODS:

In the present double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, 42 patients with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder based on DSM-IV criteria were randomly assigned into two groups to receive daily either 1500 IU vitamin D3 plus 20 mg fluoxetine or fluoxetine alone for 8 weeks. Depression severity was assessed at 2-week intervals using the 24-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) as a primary outcome measure and the 21-item Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) as a secondary outcome measure. Serum 25(OH) vitamin D was measured at baseline and after intervention.

RESULTS:

Forty patients completed the trial. A two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance showed that depression severity based on HDRS and BDI decreased significantly after intervention, with a significant difference between the two groups. The vitamin D + fluoxetine combination was significantly better than fluoxetine alone from the fourth week of treatment.

CONCLUSIONS:

In the present 8-week trial, the vitamin D + fluoxetine combination was superior to fluoxetine alone in controlling depressive symptoms.

PMID: 23093054

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Tags: Depression Intervention