By David Liu, PHD

Thursday Oct 25, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Observational studies have linked depression to vitamin deficiency.  A new trial in Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry confirmed that vitamin d indeed help relieve severity of depression.

N. Khoraminya at Department of Nutrition and Biochemistry, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran and colleagues conducted the trial and found patients with major depressive disorders had the severity of depression reduced significantly by taking a vitamin d supplement in addition to a drug.

For the trial, 42 patients with diagnosed depression were given either 1,500 IU vitamin D(3) plus 20 mg fluoxetine or fluoxetine alone for eight weeks.  Depression severity was assessed every two weeks using 24-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the 21-item Beck Depression Inventory.   Serum 25(OH) vitamin D was also measured at baseline and the end of the trial.

Depression severity assessed based on both methods was reduced significantly after the treatment and the vitamin D and fluoxetine combination showed greater efficacy than fluoxetine alone starting at the fourth week. 

The researchers concluded "In the present 8-week trial, the vitamin D + fluoxetine combination was superior to fluoxetine alone in controlling depressive symptoms."

Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to more than 100 health conditions including cancer, heart disease, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome and depression, according to the Vitamin D Council.