Vitamin D₃ Supplements Do Not Prevent Depression in Nondepressed Elderly People

Multiple small, randomized, controlled trials have failed to show that supplementation with vitamin D₃ improves depressed mood, even at high doses, for long periods of time, or in those with low 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels or key depression risk factors. Nevertheless, no study has been large enough to test definitively whether vitamin D₃ supplementation can prevent depression.

As an ancillary study to a randomized, placebo-controlled trial examining the preventive effects of supplementary vitamin D₃ (2000 IU/day), fish oil, or their combination for cancer and cardiac health, researchers examined antidepressive effects of vitamin D₃ versus placebo in 18,353 older, nondepressed people (ages: men, ≥50; women, ≥55). About 9% of each group had pri…