Depression Health Center

Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Depression

The Link Between Vitamin D Levels and Depression continued...

If you are being treated for depression, ask your doctor to test your vitamin D levels. "If you are deficient, get treated," she says.

"People often feel better when they take vitamin D," says Michael Holick, MD, PhD. He is the director of the Vitamin D, Skin, and Bone Research Lab at Boston University. "One of the effects that vitamin D has on the brain is to improve serotonin levels -- which is the same chemical that many antidepressants act on."

"This is an interesting study," says Erin LeBlanc, MD. She is an endocrinologist and researcher at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland. "It does show that vitamin D and its effects on things besides bone should be studied more."

The next step would be a trial where some people with depression get vitamin D and others get an inactive placebo, she says.

These findings were presented at a medical conference. They should be considered preliminary as they have not yet undergone the "peer review" process, in which outside experts scrutinize the data prior to publication in a medical journal.