Adverse health outcomes in vitamin D supplementation trials for depression: a systematic review
Ageing Research Reviews https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arr.2021.101442
Karen S.van den BergabRadboud M.MarijnissenbRob H.S.van den BrinkbRichard C.Oude VoshaarbJohanna M.Hegemana
Similar to many other Vitamin D and health problem studies:
The study is aware that higher levels of Vitamin D are needed
The study is aware that longer trials are needed
The study is aware that different people need different amounts of Vitamin D
The study is unaware that different forms of Vitamin D are needed by some people (gut-friendly)
The study is unaware that more than Vitamin D monotherapy is probably needed
The study is unaware that different types of depression may need different treatment
The study is unaware that different treatments may be needed: severity, duration, and type of depression
The study is unaware that good D level in the blood does not equate to good level in the cells
The study is unaware that some treatment may be needed constantly or occasionally for the rest of the person's life
Intervention of Vitamin D for Depression
- Infants getting an additional 800 IU of vitamin D for 2 years had 60% fewer psychiatric symptoms at age 7 – RCT May 2023
- Anxiety and Depression decreased in senior prediabetics with weekly 25,000 IU of Vitamin D – RCT Sept 2022
- Depression decreased by Vitamin D (12th study in VitaminDWiki) – RCT Nov 2022
- Overweight needed more EPA (4 grams) to fight depression – RCT Aug 2022
- Omega-3 did not prevent depression (they failed to reduce Omega-6, which blocks Omega-3) – RCT Dec 2021
- Weekly Vitamin D plus daily Magnesium is great (reduced depression in obese women in this case) – July 2021
- Depression in psychiatric youths reduced 28 percent after just 1 month of vitamin D – RCT Feb 2020
- Yet another study confirms Depression is treated by weekly Vitamin D (50,000 IU)– RCT Dec 2019
- Depression decreased after vitamin D (50,000 IU weekly to elderly in the case) – RCT Oct 2019
- Vitamin D - no cure for depression (when you use only 1200 IU) – Aug 2019
- Depression reduced in Diabetics with 3 months of 4,000 IU of vitamin D – RCT July 2019
- Vitamin D treatment of diabetes (50,000 IU every 2 weeks) augmented by probiotic – RCT June 2018
- Women had better sexual desire, orgasm and satisfaction after Vitamin D supplementation – Feb 2018
- Vitamin D depression RCT canceled: too many were taking Vitamin D supplements, etc. Feb 2018
- Depression in adolescent girls reduced somewhat by 50,000 IU weekly for 9 weeks – July 2017
- Perinatal depression decreased 40 percent with just a few weeks of 2,000 IU of vitamin D – RCT Aug 2016
- Just 1500 IU of Vitamin D significantly helps Prozac – RCT March 2013
- Reduced depression with single 300,000 IU injection of vitamin D – RCT June 2013
- 40,000 IU vitamin D weekly reduced depression in many obese subjects – RCT 2008
- 50,000 IU Vitamin D weekly Improves Mood, Lowers Blood Pressure in Type 2 Diabetics – Oct 2013
Meta-analyses of Vitamin D and Depression
- Depression 1.6 X more likely if low Vitamin D, taking Vitamin D reduces depression – umbrella of meta-analyses – Jan 2023
- Depression in seniors greatly reduced by Vitamin D (50,000 IU weekly) – meta-analysis June 2023
- Depression reduced if take more than 5,000 IU of vitamin D daily – umbrella meta-analysis – Jan 2023
- Depression reduced if use more than 2,800 IU of vitamin D – meta-analysis Aug 2022
- Depression is treated by 2,000 IU of Vitamin D – 2 meta-analyses July 2022
- Depression treated by 50K IU Vitamin D weekly (but not 1,000 IU daily) – meta-analysis Jan 2021
- Mental disorders fought by Omega-3 etc. - meta-meta-analysis Oct 2019
- Depression less likely if more Vitamin D (12 percent per 10 ng) – meta-analysis July 2019
- Anxiety severity reduced if more than 2 grams of Omega-3 – meta-analysis Sept 2018
- Less depression in seniors taking enough Omega-3 – meta-analysis July 2018
- Unipolar depression treated by Omega-3, Zinc, and probably Vitamin D – meta-analysis Oct 2017
- Depression is associated with low Magnesium – meta-analysis April 2015
- Clinical Trials of vitamin D can have “biological flaws” – Jan 2015
- Slight depression not reduced by adding vitamin D if already had enough (no surprise) – meta-analysis – Nov 2014
- Anti-depression medication about as good as big increase in vitamin D – meta-analysis of flawless data April 2014
- Depression might be reduced by vitamin D – meta-analysis March 2014
- Low vitamin D and depression - Study and meta-analysis, April 2013
- 2X more likely to be depressed if low vitamin D (cohort studies) - Meta-analysis Jan 2013
Depression summary
- Low vitamin D is associated with most types of depression, Including: Seasonal Affective Disorder. manic depression, bipolar disorder, dysthymia, Depression during/after pregnancy, Seniors, Suicide
- Depression substantially reduced by Vitamin D, Omega-3, Magnesium, etc – many studies
- Depression 1.6 X more likely if low Vitamin D, taking Vitamin D reduces depression – umbrella of meta-analyses – Jan 2023
- Depression: Low vitamin D in the strongest of 11 risk factors – Jan 2023
- Yet another study confirms Depression is treated by weekly Vitamin D (50,000 IU)– RCT Dec 2019
- Depression treated by Omega-3 (again) – meta-analysis Aug 2019
- Supplementing with Vitamin D (or getting more sun) decreases most types of depression as well as drugs
- Omega-3, Magnesium, and St. Johns' Wort also decrease depression
- Speculate that some combination (Vit D, Omega-3, Mg, St John's) will decrease depression even more
- Note: Both Omega-3 and Magnesium increase the amount of vitamin D which gets to tissues
- Antidepressants reduce cellular Vitamin D, increasing fractures, CVD, etc. - Oct 2022
- There are
263 items in the Depression category in VitaminDWiki Some recent publications
- Depression in seniors greatly reduced by Vitamin D (50,000 IU weekly) – meta-analysis June 2023
- Depression reduced if take more than 5,000 IU of vitamin D daily – umbrella meta-analysis – Jan 2023
- Post-partum depression and low Vitamin D - many studies
- Depression: Low vitamin D in the strongest of 11 risk factors – Jan 2023
 Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki
Only rarely did the actual Vitamin D response reach the the expected response
Note: Non-daily dosing is the most common
(subset of table)Background
Vitamin D deficiency is a universal risk factor for adverse health outcomes. Since depression is consistently associated with low vitamin D levels as well as several adverse health outcomes, vitamin D supplementation may be especially relevant for depressed persons. This review examines the potential benefits of vitamin D for (somatic) health outcomes in randomised controlled supplementation trials for depression.Method
Systematic literature search to assess whether adverse health outcomes, such as frailty, falls, or cognitive functioning, were included in vitamin D supplementation trials for depression, and whether these outcomes were affected by supplementation. The revised Cochrane tool for assessing risk of bias in randomised trials was used.Results
Thirty-one trials were included. Adverse health outcomes were considered in five studies. Two studies reported some beneficial effect on an adverse health outcome.Conclusions and implications
While depressed persons are at increased risk of vitamin D deficiency, supplementation trials hardly addressed the common negative health consequences of low vitamin D levels as secondary outcome measures. Well-designed trials of the effects of vitamin D supplementation in late-life depression should explore whether adverse health outcomes can be prevented or stabilised, and whether depression benefits from this improvement.
- - - - - - - - -4.2 Supplementation recommendations
Although supplementation of 10-20 pg vitamin D per day (depending on skin colour and sun exposure) is recommended for all older persons (Health Council of the Netherlands, 2012), these guidelines are often not followed (Chel et al., 2013). In the Netherlands, general practitioners are encouraged to follow a pragmatic approach and to actively prescribe vitamin D to persons who will likely benefit from it (Elders et al., 2015). So far, depressed persons are not one of the risk groups explicitly identified in these guidelines.
While vitamin D levels of 75 nmol/l are considered sufficient for bone metabolism and the prevention of falls and fractures (American Geriatrics Society Workgroup on vitamin D supplementation for older adults, 2014; Bisschoff-Ferrari, 2007), target levels for extra- skeletal effects are unknown. Moreover, while dose-response curves are often non-linear (see Heaney, 2014), a recent dose-response meta-analysis that specifically looked for non-linear dose-response associations between vitamin D levels and depression, only found a linear association (Li et al., 2019). Therefore, future supplementation trials should not only address what the optimal vitamin D level should be, but also whether the dose-response curve for these effects is linear or non-linear. Interestingly, the beneficial effect of vitamin D supplementation on the number of functional limitations in the high-quality D-Vitaal study (De Koning et al., 2019) was only seen in the subgroup with baseline vitamin D levels >50 nmol/l. This post-hoc analysis could be a chance finding, but if not, several explanations may apply.- First, in case of severe vitamin D deficiency irreversible effects may have occurred, or
- secondly, higher target values and/or a longer follow-up duration are needed to improve functional limitations.
This latter explanation also challenges the idea of fixed target levels for specific outcomes, as target levels may differ conditional on duration and severity of vitamin D deficiency. Finally, the target level of vitamin D to improve functional limitations in depression might be much higher than previously thought and may only be reached by this supplementation strategy among patients who had >50 nmol/l vitamin D levels at baseline. Regarding the uncertainty of optimal vitamin D levels in depression, we advocate considering depressed persons as at risk for vitamin D deficiency and the associated adverse health outcomes.
More vitamin D needed, unsure level needed and for how long (depression in this case) – Review Aug 20212784 visitors, last modified 21 Aug, 2021, This page is in the following categories (# of items in each category)Attached files
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