Supplementing with vitamin D tablets does not protect against depression in middle age or older adulthood. This emerges from one of the largest studies of its kind. This long-standing question has probably encouraged some people to consider cholecalciferoltaking nutritional supplements. However, in this study, no significant benefit was found from the supplement for this purpose. This did not prevent depression or improve mood.
What benefits do vitamin D tablets bring?
This study included more than 18,000 men and women aged 50 and over. Half of the participants received vitamin D3 supplementation for an average of five years, while the other part of the subjects received a matching placebo for the same duration. Many people refer to vitamin D as the sunshine vitamin. This is mainly because the skin can produce it naturally when people are exposed to sunlight. Numerous previous studies have shown that low levels of vitamin D in the blood are associated with a higher risk of depression later in life. However, few large-scale randomized trials were needed to determine the cause. Now the lead authors and their colleagues have provided the definitive answer to this question.
A scientific problem for the researchers was that they actually needed a very large number of study participants to determine whether a treatment helped prevent the development of depression. For this reason, this study with almost 20,000 participants was statistically focused on this problem. The research, called VITAL-DEP (Depression Endpoint Prevention in the Vitamin D and Omega-3 Study), was an add-on study to VITAL, a randomized clinical trial to treat cardiovascular disease and cancer in nearly 26,000 people in the USA. From this group, the scientific team examined the 18,353 men and women who initially had no signs of clinical depression. The researchers then tested whether vitamin D tablets could actually prevent depression.
Research results
The results outof the studywere clear. Among all randomized participants, researchers found that the risk of depression or clinically relevant depressive symptoms was not significantly different between those who received active vitamin D3 supplements and those who received placebo. They also found no differences between treatment groups in mood scores over time. However, the researchers believe that people should not interrupt their prescribed regimens of vitamin D tablets without medical advice. Many patients take this type of supplement for other reasons. For example, it is known that vitamin D is essential for bone health and metabolism. However, randomized trials like this have called many of the other supposed benefits into question.
