A recent study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry finds that vitamin D supplementation does not improve symptoms of in women older than 70.  The researches identified women who had vitamin D deficiency and gave them 500,000 IU of vitamin D one time each year for three to five years.  Hmmm.  This is an unusual vitamin D dosing regimen.

In my experience, providing 5,000 IU vitamin per day, every day, for adult patients is a safe way of maintaining optimal vitamin D status – using less than 4,000 IU does not usually work.  In my clinic, this approach has been a part of a successful program for improving depression in patients with vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency.  This means taking almost 1,800,000 IU of vitamin D per year – much more than what was provided in this study.

According to the Institute of Medicine, 4,000 IU of vitamin D is the upper intake limit for universal safety in people older than 9 years old.  At this level of intake, the annual dosage of vitamin D is 1,460,000 IU – again, much more than the 500,000 IU used in this study.

Honestly, I don’t know if randomized control trials will end up showing that vitamin D supplementation prevents or treats depression.  However, providing one third of the usual annual dose to maintain vitamin D sufficiency is not a very good way to assess the effectiveness of vitamin D for depression.  Providing that dosage all at once makes even less sense.

This is an example of how the results of research and the headlines may not provide an accurate assessment of the question that is trying to be answered.

Be Well,

Richard Malik, ND