2023-05-30 09:02:32
A real public health problem, suicide causes the disappearance of more than 700,000 people every year in the world. While suicide results from a complex interaction between several risk factors, depression is the most frequent factor (between 60% and 98% of suicides and suicide attempts). However, as several studies have shown promising effects of vitamin D supplementation as an adjunct treatment for this mood disorder, a team of researchers from the University of Guadalajara, Mexico, decided to compile the scientific literature regarding this and concludes that vitamin D supplementation to reduce symptoms of depression might have a “indirect effect” in the prevention of suicide and suicide attempts.
Vitamin D supplementation: promising effects
As previous studies indicate, vitamin D deficiency may be a risk factor for depression and suicide attempts. This can be explained by the fact that vitamin D deficiency can alter the synthesis of serotonin et the availability of certain neurotransmitters involved in depression, but also decrease inflammation in the brain very often observed post-mortem in victims of suicide associated with depression. Indeed, several studies have shown that vitamin D deficiencies reduce our ability to deal with inflammation and to synthesize serotonin, both of which are associated with depression and suicidal attempts.
Links are also made in certain studies between sun and depression (exposure to the sun mechanically increasing the natural levels of vitamin D). Other clinical trials show that a short-term vitamin D supplementation (for eight weeks with 50,000 IU of vitamin D every two weeks, or 1,250 μg) significantly improves the severity of depressive symptoms felt by patients.
Other tests show positive effects from 5,000 IU (125 μg) per day or 50,000 IU (1,250 μg) once a week with different doses and routes of administration (some offering 4,000 IU daily for three months or a single dose of 300,000 IU introduced directly into the digestive tract) .
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A minimum dose of 2000 IU and patients more susceptible than others
While all studies do not systematically find positive results or a direct correlation between vitamin D and depressive disorders, a meta-analysis bringing together the results of 41 clinical trials with a high level of evidence (controlled and randomized), has shown that vitamin D supplementation vitamin D has effects “minor to moderate” on depressive symptoms, that the minimum dose needed seems to be 2000 IU (50 μg) per day and that the the most receptive patients are rather those with more severe symptoms.
All this leads scientists to say that, determining the vitamin D levels of a depressed patient and considering supplementation being gestures “affordable and safe”, they might, in the future, be part of the clinical routines to be adopted when dealing with patients presenting with suicidal symptoms.
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