Efficacy of Vitamin D for Depression

[Bursting Aura]

Omega 3's are mentioned a lot for there importance for brain health. Vitamin D can also pass the blood-brain barrier, so it should be investigated for mental health also. I drove over some papers on vitamin D and depression since yesterday, so I will share some of those here. Depression impacts quality of life and it is usually implicated to be self-caused. According to science, depression can be biological, therefore depression is not always a lack of spiritual perspective or a case of "bad" vibes. My conclusion from these papers is that most cases of depression are very situational. Vitamin D deficiencies are not rare, and can potentially have a healing affect with some cases, similar to anti-depressants. The optimal ways to get vitamin D in my opinion, is sunshine and mushrooms. I would stay away from raw mushrooms due to carcinogens reported in the literature. heat destroys them though. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2132000

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3751336/
Efficacy of vitamin D supplementation in depression in adults: a systematic review protocol
"The efficacy of vitamin D supplementation in depression has raised lots of concern. Vitamin D is considered as a neurosteroid [56], and now it is attested that vitamin D metabolites can cross the blood–brain barrier [34]. Because of the widespread presence of vitamin D receptor in areas of the brain including the hippocampus which is associated with the development of depression [23], it could be speculated that there is a clinical effect of vitamin D on depression."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26680471
Vitamin D in anxiety and affective disorders.
"Reduced levels of vitamin or its metabolites have been reported in various psychiatric disorders. Insufficient levels of vitamin D in depressive patients have been confirmed by many authors. Significantly lower levels of calcidiol (vitamin D) were found in men and women with depression as well as in age matched patients with anxiety disorders.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25713056
Vitamin D and the omega-3 fatty acids control serotonin synthesis and action, part 2: relevance for ADHD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and impulsive behavior.
"Serotonin regulates a wide variety of brain functions and behaviors. Here, we synthesize previous findings that serotonin regulates executive function, sensory gating, and social behavior and that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and impulsive behavior all share in common defects in these functions. It has remained unclear why supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D improve cognitive function and behavior in these brain disorder"

[Bursting Aura]

accidentally posted it twice 

Edited January 9, 2018 by Bursting Aura
accident

[Guest]

I have 26. Minimum is 30, 50 is optimal.

[rafiki]

I also have a vitamin D deficiency. Hmm...