Does Vitamin D Help Ease Depression?

There is no evidence that vitamin D supplementation has any effect on major depressive disorder, according to a new systematic review of previous clinical trials.

In the past, studies have observed associations between vitamin D deficiency and depressive symptoms, but the effects of supplementation remained unclear.

In order the discover the possible benefits of supplementation, reviewers from the Columbia University Medical Center (CUMA) and CUMA’s Center for Cardiovascular Behavioral Health searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, AMED, PsycINFO, Scopus, The Cochrane Library, and other references for studies of the effects of vitamin D on depression.
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Overall, only 7 trials including 3191 participants were identified which directly compared depressed patients supplemented with vitamin D against those not supplemented.

All but 2 of the studies involved participants without clinical significant depression at the start of the study, and most of these trials were “characterized by methodological limitations.”

“Overall improvement in depression across all trials was small and not clinically significant.”

Researchers did note that vitamin D supplementation, when combined with standard antidepressants, may help patients with clinically significant depression, although this may only be true for depressed patients with vitamin D deficiency.

“Although tempting, adding vitamin D supplements to the armamentarium of remedies for depression appears premature based on the evidence available at this time,” they concluded.

–Michael Potts

  1. Shaffer JA, Edmondson D, Wasson LT, Falzon L, et al. Vitamin D Supplementation for Depressive Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials [published online ahead of print March 14, 2014]. Psychosomatic Medicine. doi: 10.1097/​PSY.0000000000000044
  2. Study Finds No Evidence That Vitamin D Supplements Reduce Depression [press release]. Columbia University Medical Center; New York, NY: March 18, 2014. http://newsroom.cumc.columbia.edu/blog/2014/03/18/study-finds-evidence-vitamin-d-supplements-reduce-depression/