Low Levels of Vitamin D May Lead to Depression

Low serum levels of vitamin D are associated with clinically significant symptoms of depression in otherwise healthy individuals, new research shows.

Here is another good reason for taking vitamin supplements. Low levels of vitamin D seems to be the norm, rather than the exception. There are many important functions for vitamin D, including bone health, cancer prevention, immune system function, etc. Here is another.

 

Making a series of assessments of healthy women during a 1-month period, investigators found that more than one third of participants had depressive symptoms, that almost half had vitamin D insufficiency, and that depressive symptoms were predicted by vitamin D levels.

 

"Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency occur at high rates in healthy young women, and lower vitamin D3 levels are related to clinically significant depressive symptoms," say the researchers at the School of Psychological Science, College of Liberal Arts, Oregon State University, Corvallis.

 

Noting that vitamin D supplementation is a low-cost, simple, and low-risk intervention, they add: "Given the lifespan health risks associated with insufficiency, supplementation is warranted whether or not the modest role of vitamin D in depression observed here generalizes more broadly."

 

The study was published online March 6 in Psychiatry Research.