Vitamin D does not Prevent Depression, Study Suggests

Oct, 2020 - By SMI

JoAnn Manson, the senior author does note that this does not mean that people should stop consuming vitamin D supplementation immediately.

According to new research, vitamin D supplementation does not prevent or reduce the risk of depression in middle-aged or old adults. The research was published in August 2020 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). It is the largest clinical trial ever conducted into the connection between depression and vitamin D suggesting that the important vitamin does not prevent depression or improve mood in adults. The placebo-controlled trial did not examine pre-existing vitamin D deficient people, instead, the research focused on the effect of long-term supplementation in healthy individuals.

Low blood levels of vitamin D are often observably associated with high rates of depression, however, a connection has never been efficiently determined. Some small clinical trials have examined whether vitamin D can improve mood or prevent depression in adults. Vitamin D did not inhibit depression in almost all of those randomized clinical trials. During this research, the researchers examined around 18,353 individuals with an average age of 67 years (men and women) for more than five years. The participants were divided into two groups.

The first group received vitamin D3 and the second group received a placebo for the same duration. The researchers found no evident differences in mood or depression between both vitamin D and placebo groups. There is also no major difference in self-reported mood scores between both groups over a longer period. Moreover, the team found increased levels of vitamin D in the non-placebo group. JoAnn Manson, the senior author does note that this does not mean that people should stop consuming vitamin D supplementation immediately, especially if they are following clinical advice. However, further research is required to understand the possible effect of vitamin D on people with a clinical nutrient deficiency.