Friday, 21 March 2014

Vitamin D Blog: D Has No Effect on Depression

Get customized medical news and FREE CME!Select Specialties and Topics of Interest to Customize Your NewsContinue to RegisterRegister for FREE customized news, conference, policy and practice coverage and CME tracking. Register Today

Earn Free CME Credits by reading the latest medical news in your specialty.

Sign Up
Published: Mar 20, 2014

Depressed patients won't get any relief from vitamin D supplementation, a new meta-analysis found.

In a review of seven trials totaling nearly 3,200 patients, the vitamin had no significant effect on depressive symptoms overall, Jonathan Shaffer, PhD, of Columbia University Medical Center, in New York City, and colleagues reported in Psychosomatic Medicine.

However, when looking specifically at patients who had clinically significant depressive symptoms or depressive disorder, the researchers found that there did appear to be a moderately significant effect of vitamin D supplementation on symptoms.

In a press release, the researchers noted that further work should be done on whether vitamin D adds to improvements when patients are also on antidepressants.

They also noted that supplementation may work when depressed patients have an actual deficiency in vitamin D, but more studies are needed.

Have a tip on a vitamin D study? Email Kristina Fiore at k.fiore@medpagetoday.com. You can also catch our vitamin D feed on Twitter, @vitaminDblog.

Other coverage from the Vitamin D Blog:

D's Role in Weight Loss

Iatrogenic Overdose

Inflammatory Markers

Cutting Edema in Athletes' Bones

Kristina Fiore joined MedPage Today after earning a degree in science, health, and environmental reporting from NYU. She's had bylines in newspapers and trade and consumer magazines including Newsday, ABC News, New Jersey Monthly, and Earth Magazine. At MedPage Today, she reports with a focus on diabetes, nutrition, and addiction medicine.

No comments:

Post a Comment