Depression and Vitamin D Levels Linked in Study

It’s been said that Vitamin D and its overall repercussions for health are a bit trendy right now, but a very large study- the largest of its kind- by psychiatrists at UT Southwestern Medical Center indicates that Vitamin D levels may have an effect on depression.

Major depressive disorder affects one in every 10 Americans, and the new study, published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, may help shed light on the link between Vitamin D and depression. The study included more than 12,000 patients and examined data gathered between 2006 and 2010. What it found was that higher Vitamin D levels were linked with a far smaller risk of symptoms of depression, and that was true even among those who had a prior history of depression.

Dr. E. Sherwood Brown, was a senior author of the study and is a professor of psychiatry. He said that while the findings were “useful,” don’t go piling on the Vitamin D just yet:

“Our findings suggest that screening for vitamin D levels in depressed patients- and perhaps screening for depression in people with low vitamin D levels- might be useful. But we don’t have enough information yet to recommend going out and taking supplements.”

The study also noted that low Vitamin D levels correlated with increased risk of depression, particularly among people who had a previous history of depression. Although the study did not examine whether increasing levels of Vitamin D had an impact on symptoms of depression, it did suggest that checking levels of Vitamin D should be considered in those patients.