Does Vitamin D Supplementation Impact Serotonin Levels? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Overview

Journal Health Sci Rep

Specialty General Medicine

Date 2024 Aug 1

PMID 39086509

Authors

Malek Alimohammadi-Kamalabadi

Somayeh Ziaei

Motahareh Hasani

Shooka Mohammadi

Milad Mehrbod

Mehrnaz Morvaridi

Emma Persad

Andrej Belancic

Mahsa Malekahmadi

Maria Dulce da Mota Antunes de Oliveira Estevao

Elnaz Daneshzad

Javad Heshmati

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background And Aims: Vitamin D deficiency impacts a significant proportion of the world's population, and this deficiency has been linked to various conditions characterized by imbalanced serotonin regulation. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the effect of vitamin D supplementation on serum serotonin levels.

Methods: We conducted a comprehensive search of PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Central for Randomized Clinical Trials, and Web of Science up to September 2022, without any language restrictions. The effect sizes were calculated using the standard mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI).

Results: Six randomized clinical trials involving 356 participants were included in the analysis. Our findings indicated no significant changes in serotonin levels between the intervention and control groups (SMD: 0.24 ng/mL, 95% CI: -0.28, 0.75, > 0.10). Subgroup analysis also did not reveal any significant changes in serotonin levels among children, participants with autism spectrum disorders, interventions lasting 10 weeks or longer, or those receiving vitamin D doses below 4000 IU/day.

Conclusion: Although the results obtained in this systematic review are inconclusive, they support the need for further well-designed randomized trials to assess the potential role of vitamin D supplementation in regulating serotonin levels and potentially ameliorating depression and related disorders.

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