Mental Health and Vitamin D
September 6, 2010 by Dr. Soram Khalsa
Filed under Featured, Vitamin D
I was recently interviewed about the role of vitamin D in depression. When the article comes out I will post a link on my blog.
What I basically said is that the medical literature supports the possibility that vitamin D deficiency is connected with depression but more studies need to be done to prove the connection.
Now in the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology a new article has been published,entitled "Vitamin D, light, and mental health". The author is MB Humble.
In this article the author reviews the medical literature for relationship between vitamin D and mental health. He points out that both vitamin D receptors and vitamin D enzymes are present in the brain. He also points out that active vitamin D affects neurotransmitters and other molecules that are relevant to mental disorders.
He points out that considerable evidence supports a role of less than optimal vitamin D levels being associated with depression. However he quickly points out that further double-blind crossover placebo controlled prospective studies must be done to prove this connection.
He goes on to point out that specifically two diagnoses, schizophrenia and autism has been linked to prenatal vitamin D deficiency.as my readers know I've discussed this previously.
The author also goes on to present two cases of psychiatric improvement coinciding with treatment of their vitamin D deficiency, leading to the question of whether their vitamin D deficiency was the cause of their psychiatric disorder.
We increasingly see articles like this in the medical literature.
Please let me know if you have seen any improvement in your or your families mental health as a result of optimizing your vitamin D levels. Have you had your levels checked? Have your friends with depression or other mental disorders had their levels checked?
I look forward to hearing back from you.
