Depression in seniors greatly reduced by Vitamin D (50,000 IU weekly) – meta-analysis June 2023

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Vitamin D supplementation for depression in older adults: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Front Nutr. 2023 Jun 21;10:1169436. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1169436
Yoonjung Park 1 2, Young-Mi Ah 3, Yun Mi Yu 1 2

The 2 trials giving enough vitamin D to be meaningful

Background: In older adults, depression is associated with several other clinical problems such as cognitive impairment and low quality of life. Several studies have evaluated the relationship between vitamin D and depression in older adults; however, the results have been controversial thus far.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effects of vitamin D supplementation on depressive symptom improvement among individuals aged ≥60 years with or without a diagnosis of depression or depressive symptoms based on a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Methods: RCTs were identified to analyze the relationship between vitamin D supplementation and depressive symptoms. MEDLINE, CENTRAL, Embase, and PsycINFO were systematically searched for relevant articles published from inception to November 2022. RCTs that evaluated the effect of vitamin D supplementation in participants aged ≥60 years compared to placebo were included. A random effects model was used in this meta-analysis because of the differences between the included RCTs. The quality of the RCTs was assessed using Risk of Bias 2.

Results: Seven trials were included in the analyses. The primary outcome of pre-post score changes included five trials with a total of 752 participants. The secondary outcome of post-intervention score included all seven trials with a total of 4,385 participants. No significant improvement in depressive symptoms in either pre-post score changes [standardized mean difference (SMD) = -0.49; 95% confidence interval (CI) -1.07-0.09; p = 0.10] or post-intervention score (SMD = -0.10; 95% CI -0.28-0.07; p = 0.25) was found.

Conclusion: Vitamin D supplementation in older adults was not associated with an improvement in depressive symptoms. More studies in older adults are needed to evaluate the association between vitamin D supplementation and depression.
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23 Interventions of Vitamin D for Depression

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19 Meta-analyses of Vitamin D and Depression

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VitaminDWiki – Depression contains

• 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
• Major Depressive Disorder RCTs often use Vitamin D: 50,000 IU weekly or single 300,000 IU - Review May 2025
• 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
• 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 273 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
• Post-partum depression and low Vitamin D - many studies
• Depression: Low vitamin D in the strongest of 11 risk factors – Jan 2023

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229+ VitaminDwiki pages have 50,000 or 60,000 IU in their title

Note: India uses 60,000 IU capsules

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