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Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants

• _aleph2c_ 8mo ago
  A very important article for the hacker news community. Maybe we should pin this on the top for a couple of days.
• vegancap 8mo ago
  I found this to be the case. Tried Sertraline for a while, gave me headaches and made me feel sick. Then as part of a new gym plan, started taking Omega 3+VitD daily, and I just felt a sense of calm and peace after a few weeks. The massive uptick in exercise probably also helped. I also felt quite an extreme uptick because I was a vegan for 10 years, and found out I had basically zero Omega 3 in my blood. I suspect one of the main reasons my mental health declined was due to the lack of Omega 3. Disclaimer, not saying vegans should stop being vegans, just make sure you find a good supplement, and make sure you understand the difference between EPA/DHA Omega 3.
  • dvh 8mo ago
    > as part of a new gym plan There's your answer
    • vegancap 8mo ago
      Possibly, deffo would have been a big factor. Anecdotally though, I forgot to take these supplements for a while recently, just got out of the habit, and definitely felt worse again for a bit. But, could have been a coincidence/something else
  • serpix 8mo ago
    Omega 3 comes from algae, which might be okay for some vegans.
    • hshdhdhj4444 8mo ago
      What vegans would not be ok with algae?
      • buddhistdude 8mo ago
        algerians
        • Kichererbsen 8mo ago
          @buddhistdude - thank you :) made my day!
    • tefkah 8mo ago
      Unlikely any vegan would have any moral qualms about algae, given that they’re not animals. Maybe you were thinking of oysters/clams/bivalves?
    • quietbritishjim 8mo ago
      I think they meant their vegan diet didn't naturally have Omega 3 in it if they didn't take supplements; not that they couldn't take the supplements once they realised it.
    • augusto-moura 8mo ago
      Or fish oil
    • vegancap 8mo ago
      Yeah I took that for a while, and did slightly improve things. Only problem I had at the time was those were super expensive in the UK. Maybe that's changed now
  • hshdhdhj4444 8mo ago
    All my nutrient numbers improved when I became vegan because nearly every one in the US/UK is deficient in VitD, Omegas and B12. Fortunately today’s vegan communities are much more aware of this so I started taking these supplements right up front and all my blood markers improved dramatically since when I consumed meat/dairy. It’s annoying to hear some push back against this when it’s as simple as taking relatively safe supplements (just make sure you talk to a doctor, and not a social media influencer, about how much you should take, and if you get a chance to regularly check your bloodwork don’t miss out).
    • johnisgood 8mo ago
      Why did you become a vegan if apparently even non-vegans are deficient in B12? Do you supplement B12? Since B12 is mainly found in meat, and B12 deficiency is irreversible.
      • tefkah 8mo ago
        why do you think the reason for them becoming vegan has something to do with B12 levels? likely they became vegan for different reasons, became much more aware of the importance of B12 and started taking a supplement. every vegan should supplement b12, so they probably do too
        • johnisgood 8mo ago
          > All my nutrient numbers improved when I became vegan because nearly every one in the US/UK is deficient in VitD, Omegas and B12.
          • pseudalopex 8mo ago
            > Fortunately today’s vegan communities are much more aware of this so I started taking these supplements right up front and all my blood markers improved dramatically since when I consumed meat/dairy.
            • 8mo ago
  • brushfoot 8mo ago
    > I was a vegan for 10 years, and found out I had basically zero Omega 3 in my blood I see your disclaimer, but just for more context, vegans can get Omega 3 without taking pills per se. Flax seeds are an excellent source. I often add a spoonful to a bowl of oatmeal or as a pancake topping along with fruit sauce and granola.
    • pydry 8mo ago
      Flaxseeds are probably the most flavorless things I've ever tasted. Chia seeds taste ok but you need to prep them by soaking which is a pain (or experience bloating). All other seeds have more omega 6 than omega 3.
      • grvdrm 8mo ago
        Funny - I feel the opposite about chia. Soaked and plumped is when I hate them. Dry on salads/etc. or just submerged in an active bowl I'm eating is when I like them most - the crunch adds texture to what I'm eating.
    • canucker2016 8mo ago
      Grind the flaxseed before eating them so your digestive system can access more of the nutrients in flaxseeds. from https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/nutrition/ask-the-expert/flax-seeds https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-maga... : Eating ground flax seeds gives you more benefits than whole seeds, as whole seeds remain undigested and pass through the system. from https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/articles/must-you-grind-flaxseed-to-get-its-nutritional-benefits https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/articles/must-you-grind-flax... Most people can’t chew flaxseeds effectively, so they grind them first or swallow them whole. (They are tiny.) Nutrition experts do recommend grinding them first to release the fiber and the beneficial fatty acids. Flaxseeds are helpful for constipation and may lower cholesterol as well. Ground flaxseed goes rancid easily, however, so it should be kept in the freezer until you are ready to use it. If you buy it ground, you wouldn’t have to use the blender or coffee grinder to break those seeds up before you have breakfast.
    • mistercow 8mo ago
  • Aurornis 8mo ago
    > Then as part of a new gym plan, started taking Omega 3+VitD daily, and I just felt a sense of calm and peace after a few weeks. The massive uptick in exercise probably also helped I would bet that 95% of that improvement or more was due to the exercise. Your anecdote is common: People start taking Vitamin D or fish oil as part of a bigger plan to have a healthier lifestyle and then they attribute success to the pills, not the lifestyle changes.
    • vegancap 8mo ago
      Possibly, but anecdotally, I went through a period of forgetting to take them again recently, and definitely felt worse again. Sleep started suffering, felt lower energy again. But, could have been a coincidence/something else entirely
    • seba_dos1 8mo ago
      I wouldn't bet so eagerly on these lifestyle changes being achievable without these pills.
• brushfoot 8mo ago
  And better than taking pills for the former, add hemp hearts or flax seeds to your cereal. One serving of hemp hearts has 10 grams of protein and 12 grams of Omegas 3 and 6. Flax seeds are lower in protein but an even better source of Omega 3 in particular.
  • cube2222 8mo ago
    I'm not an expert, but I've done a bunch of reading on this previously, and also skimmed the article which also mentions some parts of this. First, when taking omega 3 supplements, you generally care about increasing the ratio of omega 3 to omega 6. Hemp hearts have much more omega 6 than omega 3, so they're not very effective for improving the ratio. Second, hemp hearts contain ALA, while what you generally want to improve is EPA and DHA (this is also covered in TFA). The body can convert ALA to EPA and DHA, but it's not efficient. So all in all, if Omega 3 for the article's stated benefits is what you want, this is not the way. I recommend looking into eating more fish, or if you want a vegan route, algae-based supplements. [0] is a decent source from the NIH about foods and their Omega 3 content, split by ALA/EPA/DHA. [0]: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Omega3FattyAcids-HealthProfessional/ https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Omega3FattyAcids-HealthPro...
    • brushfoot 8mo ago
      The ratio of Omega 6 to 3 needs to be below 4:1 to be a good source of Omega 3, and hemp hearts are at 3:1, so they're listed as a good source of Omega 3. Flax seeds are even better just for Omega 3 at 1:3, but hemp hearts have other benefits, like more protein, which is why I called them out. That said, I eat a fair amount of flax seeds as well.
      • cube2222 8mo ago
        Just to reiterate, both of those (hemp hearts and flaxseed) only contain ALA, while what you're generally looking for is EPA and DHA. TFA also explicitly mentions it's only talking about EPA. This is not to say that they're unhealthy of course. EDIT: see the sibling comment by code_biologist, it's much more comprehensive than what I've written.
• r1ch 8mo ago
  Please do not take 5000mg/day of Vitamin D. The author confuses IU and mg which is very dangerous.
  • Aldipower 8mo ago
    That would be 5g. At this point everyone should notice that something is off. :-D 5000 mg of vitamin D3 = 200,000,000 IU (200 million IU)
    • xi_studio 8mo ago
      More often written as 200,000 IU as 5000mg of D3 is not written as 5,000,000mcg The author simply (and terrible mistaking) typed [mg] instead of [UI] in the first paragraph: if readed entirely, the author correct this typo in every other sentence
      • Xunjin 8mo ago
        Still it needs proof reading and definitely a BIG WARNING that anyone who reads the article should first talk with their doctor before trying any "recommendations". Some of these "recommendations" could literally kill someone.
        • hermannj314 8mo ago
          I bought the once weekly 50,000IU bottle on Amazon and am currently taking 4 a day and I am ignoring all growing signs of vitamin D toxicity because I read this guys blog and never once ever decided to consult another source, including later paragraphs in that same blog because there was no warning. Without a warning, you should blindly follow all medical advice you read online. That is that pathway to death you are worried about?
          • deltoidmaximus 8mo ago
            I was going to say, wouldn't following through on this mistake require you to not just spend a ton of money on pills but also take tons of them a day? I'd like to think this would give even the dumbest of people pause just because of the practicality aspect.
• legulere 8mo ago
  > A 2014 systematic review concluded that vitamin D supplementation does not reduce depressive symptoms overall but may have a moderate benefit for patients with clinically significant depression, though more high-quality studies were determined to be needed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D#Depression https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D#Depression
  • nayroclade 8mo ago
    The meta-analysis cited in the article is from 2024 and specifically mentions the Shaffer et al. 2014 review cited by Wikipedia as being low quality: > Some of the available reviews, owing to the limited number of trials and methodological biases, were of low quality (Anglin et al., 2013; Cheng et al., 2020; Li et al., 2014; Shaffer et al., 2014). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11650176/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11650176/
    • afpx 8mo ago
      Therefore what to do? I have seen these Hacker News vitamin D ads appear every few months for the past 15 years, or so. I always seem to have a vitamin D deficiency, so it reminds me to take supplements. I take them for a few months, hoping to see a change, but I don't feel any benefit. Then, I forget to take the supplements until the next time I see an ad. How to know if they're actually doing something useful?
      • phoronixrly 8mo ago
        Until you see an article like this which calls for '5000 mg' of supplementation, decide that you didn't take enough and overdose... HN and dubious self-medication advice go hand-in-hand. Please consult a medical professional instead of a bunch of ad-tech devs.
        • deleted 8mo ago
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        • 8mo ago
• running101 8mo ago
  Chia seed and flaxseed high in omega3
  • grvdrm 8mo ago
    + great for fiber. I load up chia as much as I can throughout the day.
    • code_biologist 8mo ago
      Chia is awesome for making pudding out of random liquids. I have to restrain myself from eating a batch of coconut milk cinnamon chia pudding in a single sitting.
  • freehorse 8mo ago
    ALA, not EPA, though, and it is unclear how much of it is converted then to EPA in the body. Afaik only EPA has shown antidepressant effects.
• b800h 8mo ago
  Can I just add: In addition to this, if you struggle with anxiety or have some sort of ADHD, then try cutting out caffeine entirely. Not just switching to "decaf" (which isn't), but cutting out tea and coffee, and switching to an alternative like Barleycup. Doing this has had a massive positive effect for me, and combined with decent nutrition and daily exercise, has been wonderful.
  • grvdrm 8mo ago
    Fascinating. Can you describe what else you tried? Other supplements? Any other non-food/supplement techniques like journaling, breathing, etc.? Any therapy and other similar human interventions? After all those - is it / was it still the case that cutting caffeine drove the best outcome?
    • parag0ne 8mo ago
      Not OP but I'll share my experience. For me, I have to quit caffeine for those to even become an option. Otherwise I get my short burst of productivity then everything shuts down after and I don't want to do a thing, everything feels "impossible" or like it doesn't matter at all. Things like journaling / breathing / etc calm the nervous system while caffeine stimulates it. I would say caffeine is counterproductive to those practices.
      • grvdrm 8mo ago
        Thanks for sharing. I briefly quit caffeine once but it as well before any realization of anxiety. So, hard to extrapolate forward from that experience. What feels different to me (compared to you) is this: sometimes I'll drink 2 cups of coffee in the morning and be awake but useless. Sometimes totally productive. Caffeine in some form is there - recently sometimes substituting coffee for a Celsius.
      • b800h 8mo ago
        I am OP, and I can confirm exactly this line of thought. Once I had given up caffeine, I was able to start using methods like Pomodoro and Eisenhower grids, and they actually worked.
• daoboy 8mo ago
  My physician prescribed Vitamins D and B12, so a quality Omega 3 is the only supplement I currently purchase. After an absurd amount of trial and error with every over-the-counter, trendy supplement over the last couple of decades (and lord only knows how much money), these are the only ones that seem to make a subjective difference on my quality of life and an objective difference in my bloodwork.
• Iolaum 8mo ago
  Your body makes Vitamin D when in sunlight. Could it be that sunlight - and the whole being outdoors situation - is the thing that helps rather than vitamin d levels?
  • rini17 8mo ago
    There's a research that winter sunlight in northern latitudes just does not convert precursors to vitamin D. Even when it's shining, no matter how long you are outside.
    • 7952 8mo ago
      And I guess you need uncovered skin which can be tricky in a cold winter.
  • NoPicklez 8mo ago
    It could be, but the same effect can be observed in people who dont change their outdoor habits but take vit D and omega 3 supplements
  • xi_studio 8mo ago
    Sunlight alone don't help, it helps just because our body makes Vitamin D during the sunbathing process. So sunbathing is one of many way of integrating Vitamin D in our body not THE way.
  • account42 8mo ago
    Well if you'd be so kind to move the earth so that we get enough sun during winter then that'll solve the problem.
  • notTooFarGone 8mo ago
    What drove you to write this comment? There are enough countries where sun is an exception in winter and this is a valid problem. Comment is neither helpful nor is it funny.
  • Ensorceled 8mo ago
    It's going to be sunny this morning, but also -14 and also I'm too far north for adequate Vitamin D synthesis in winter. But thanks for the advice.
• Liquix 8mo ago
  can vouch for a diet high in fatty fish along with supplementation of D3 + cofactors (K2, A, magnesium, zinc, copper, boron). sample size of one but noticeably improves mood and energy levels. recent evidence [0] suggests there's not much of a link between serotonin and depression, and therefore the effects of SSRIs are either placebo or an as of yet unexplained mechanism of action. IMHO it seems much more likely that modern lifestyles (excessive screen time, poor diet, lack of socialization, no connection to nature, no spirituality, etc) have more of an effect than serotonin levels. [0] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35854107/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35854107/
• shimonabi 8mo ago
  Over the last few months, I’ve increasingly come to believe that depression is not caused by a chemical imbalance. After trying ten different antidepressants with no success, I found far greater improvement by changing my patterns of thinking.
• meindnoch 8mo ago
  Yeah, I call bullshit. Tried both, and SSRIs are a godsend.
• lynx97 8mo ago
  Can confirm. Since I take 20000 IU vitamin D every sunday, my winter depression is gone.
• rustyhancock 8mo ago
  These are always tricky, vitamin D deficiency and low fat diets clearly cause depressive symptoms. Does that mean vitamin D treats depression in general? When most people talk of depression they aren't even using talking about major depression. We live in a world that in many ways is comfortable but crushing. Is that depression? Or just harmful levels of understandable unhappiness? Are they different?
• deleted 8mo ago
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• nxobject 8mo ago
  Be careful - many studies in the Vitamin D meta-analysis *enrolled patients already taking antidepressants.* [1] Reporting effect sizes without specifying "on which population?" is misleading. (As an aside, Cohen would be the person not to tell you to assign qualitative values to effect sizes. They are as arbitrary as any other threshold used by working statisticians.) [1] https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/effect-of-vitamin-d-supplementation-on-depression-a-systematic-review-and-doseresponse-metaanalysis-of-randomized-controlled-trials/8F18452740B621CC04F441F037A2513B#supplementary-materials https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medici... EDIT – that is, please don't draw the conclusion that you can substitute supplements for antidepressants. The meta-analyses don't seem designed to examine that hypothesis, and I doubt anyone would ever participate in a such a trial. In general (and as a working biostatistician), I would be very, very, very cautious applying estimates of average effect to myself, you, or any other individual person in a field as murky as psychiatry. That's why even the stingiest American health insurance plans still have an incredibly large range of antidepressants in their formularies.
  • deleted 8mo ago
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  • GenBiot 8mo ago
    Based on your own citation, this is untrue. The citation you have linked is a meta analysis of 31 trials, many of which specify no medication use at recruitment. You are however correct about population being important (which is a big reason meta analyses can be very useful).
    • nxobject 8mo ago
      I said "many", not "all". (Many don't indicate, either.)
  • ncasenmare 8mo ago
    Hi, author of the blog post here! Thanks for bringing this up -- it wasn't my intention to say one should replace antidepressants with vitamins (the conclusion even says "(Don't quit your existing antidepressants if they're net-positive for you!)", but you're right that the intro may give that impression. I'll edit the intro to say you can stack, not substitute, regular antidepressants. > many studies in the Vitamin D meta-analysis enrolled patients already taking antidepressants. Yes, and that's even more encouraging, that there's still effects of Vitamin D on major depression even if already on antidepressants! This suggests we can "stack" the interventions. Table 1 of the meta-analysis ( https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11650176/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11650176/ ) shows the raw sub-group analysis. There were 9 studies on patients using antidepressants, 13 on patients who weren't, the rest were Mixed or Not Reported (...how do 6 studies just not report that?) Anyway, Effect size of Vit D for people on antidepressants: −0.54 (−0.85, −0.23) Effect size of Vit D for people NOT on antidepressants: −0.28 (−0.40, −0.16) Both negative. Weirdly, the effect of Vit D seems to be a bit stronger for people on antidepressants, but the difference isn't statistically significant at the p<0.05 level (P subgroup difference is 0.23) (As for why those effect sizes, -0.54 & -0.28, are lower than what I (and that meta-analysis itself) report, -1.82, that's because the majority of RCTs for any group used far less than 5000 IU. Table 2 in that paper shows the effect (with 95% CI) for various dosages.) I'll lightly edit my blog post to emphasize stack them, don't substitute. Thanks again for your comment!
• trhway 8mo ago
  then it would suggest why depression gets worse in colder and less sunny part of the year. That even has its own name - Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).
• cardanome 8mo ago
  With depression it is important to find the cause of it. You might be depressed because you life objectively sucks. Then you symptoms are good and healthy and a signal to make changes in your circumstances. You might actually have a good life but still feel depressed because there is a chemical imbalance in your brain. (Very simplified). That is when drugs come in. It might be just a seasonal thing and you need to go outside more and take some supplements. You might have some other undiagnosed issue. You might have ADHD, autism and other things that cause you to struggle and develop depression as a side effect. So find out what works and what doesn't work for you.
  • jillesvangurp 8mo ago
    This stuff is complex. There are no magic potions or hacks that work for everyone. No amount of positive thinking can fix physiological issues that you have because of some underlying condition. But it's quite possible to create new issues as a side effect of being depressed, stressed, chronically exhausted, etc. So, working on those issues is probably smart. And each of those things can be caused by physiological issues as well. You might feel stressed because you don't sleep well. You might sleep poorly because you suffer from e.g. sleep Apnea. Which in turn might be because of a mix of physiological and other reasons (diet, weight, alcohol abuse, etc.). Or you might be working too hard, which makes you stressed and causes you to lose a lot of sleep. Different causes that have similar results. Including long term physiological results. Your brain can actually get damaged if you chronically abuse it or neglect it. Many "between the ears" type problems are actually physiological. Root causing your issues enables you to deal with them properly instead of fighting the symptoms. Anyway, I take vitamin D and a few other things. Getting yourself checked out regularly once you hit middle age is a good idea. There's a lot of stuff that is long term lethal that a checkup can detect early. And some of it is fixable. I have the usual cardio vascular challenges that many people struggle with because of a combination of genetics, age, and life style. And indeed a vitamin D deficit. I was also recommended to consume more omega-3 as well. Eat salmon. Work some flax/chia seeds in your breakfast. I put flax seeds in my yogurt and use it as a thickener in sauces as well. You have to grind it to dust for it to get absorbed properly. Dirt cheap and it doesn't mess with flavor/texture too much. I keep a jar of ground flax seeds in my fridge. Takes 2 minutes to top it up every 1-2 weeks or so with some freshly ground seeds. But I'm also aware that me being a stressed startup founder has health consequences that a few pills and suplements won't fix for me. I need to actively make sure I get my rest and sleep. I deal a lot better with stressful situations when I'm well rested. And I seem to be better at avoiding getting in to those as well. And I feel happier. Sometimes the best thing I can do for my company is having a proper weekend or going to bed early enough that I can get my 8 hours of sleep. You can survive on 4 hours (been there done that), for a while. But most people are not at their peak performance if they do that. And it's not good for you to work yourself to exhaustion all the time.
• isoprophlex 8mo ago
  Because it's common to hate on antidepressants, I've always personally had a bias against them. For the past 15-20 years, november thru february are basically a writeoff due for me due to seasonal affective disorder. Cold showers, exercise, no alcohol, strict sleeping rituals. Vitamin d. I can still sleep 11 hours and feel like reheated cat shit. Enter citalopram. "It will take up to six weeks to dial in" they said. Within four days I felt like the inside of my head was designed by Apple in their glory days. My mind became an orderly, well lit, tastefully designed space... instead of a dimly lit crack den. I'm more emotionally available, no longer tired, less cranky. I felt cozy. I could cry with joy because I could finally understand emotionally why people like the Christmas season. I won the SSRI lottery I guess, the side effect are sweaty feet, vivid dreams and a dry mouth. That's all. This just goes to show that for me, they're extremely effective.
  • Der_Einzige 8mo ago
    [flagged]
    • isoprophlex 8mo ago
      Yes only I wrote it while taking a shit. Sorry man. A kinda strained endeavor, I must say. It's not bad but the SSRI side effects make continuous hydration obviously important. A small price to pay.
    • sarreph 8mo ago
      How would you prove that?
      • Cthulhu_ 8mo ago
        They don't, hence the suspicion instead of a definite assertion. And suspicions are easy, because what are the consequences if it's false? None. Anyway your comment smells AI generated, I can tell from some of the pixels and seeing quite a few shoops in my time.
      • Der_Einzige 8mo ago
• fleebee 8mo ago
  Please talk to a doctor if you're curious about this instead of following this advice. Megadosing vitamins and supplements comes with risks not addressed by the author.
• lqstuart 8mo ago
  The only problem here is that "going from an F to a C in mental health" is vastly different than "going from a C to an A." It's very well known and well documented that antidepressants have very little effect on mild depression compared to say, exercise, but that F grade of depression tends to be a different beast with different causes. That's not to suggest that exercise etc isn't great, just that society has come a long way in destigmatizing mental health and just being like "oh just take fish oil" to someone dealing with that kind of depression, either through shitty genes or childhood trauma or whatever, can be really harmful.
• defraudbah 8mo ago
  wait till they discover sex, drugs and alcohol :)
• amai 8mo ago
  Coincidence? "Vitamin D is currently the only Essential Vitamin or Mineral which appears to have deficiency rates at a similar level to Magnesium" https://examine.com/supplements/magnesium/research/#nutrient https://examine.com/supplements/magnesium/research/#nutrient Dai (2018): Magnesium status and supplementation influence vitamin D status and metabolism: results from a randomized trial https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30541089/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30541089/ "Our findings suggest that optimal magnesium status may be important for optimizing 25(OH)D status. " So it might well be that general deficiency in Vitamin D is caused by the deficiency in magnesium status. This would also be an explanation why we see Vitamin D deficiency in sunny Africa: https://theconversation.com/think-vitamin-d-deficiency-is-not-common-in-africa-think-again-140080 https://theconversation.com/think-vitamin-d-deficiency-is-no...
• elAhmo 8mo ago
  To many people without relevant expertise give medical advice online. I remember a similar case with levelsio who was advocating people to take melatonin and discussing how much grams is good vs bad. When I said that people shouldn't take medical device from someone who was successful in building web apps, he blocked me.
• torcete 8mo ago
  I would add that the issue with Omega-3, is the imbalance between Omega-3 and Omega-6. It turns out that many of the food products have been manufactured with Omega-6 rich oils and that is causing some issues. One can ingest Omega-3 supplements, try to eat foods rich on that fatty acid or reduce foods with lots of Omega-6 in order to restore that balance.
• dingdingdang 8mo ago
  Confusing mg and IU units up front really do NOT inspire confidence on the topic and conclusion as a whole.
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• comrade1234 8mo ago
  Before you start taking crazy amounts (or any amount) of vitamin D just get a blood test. It's simple. As part of my insurance I can get a bunch of different blood tests, but I did have to pay about $50 extra to add the vitamin D test. Based on the test I was just a tad under where I should be and so now I am taking 800 IU per day. I may stop in the summer when I get more sun. I read somewhere that too much vitamin D has similar effects as too little (permanent hair loss, anemia, etc) but that may have just been on a blog similar to the linked blog on this submission.
• CafeRacer 8mo ago
  I eat so much vitamin d and omega 3 i should be shitting fish shitting sunshine... and yet, cold baltic winters with only a few hours of sun still make me depressed.
• shellkr 8mo ago
  This made me think of Pauling (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Pauling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Pauling) who was a famous scientist and big proponent of high-dosage C-vitamin. He claimed it could cure everything from a cold to heart disease and cancer. Later studies did though not find any benefit of high-dosage C-vitamin and that potentially had a higher risk of prostate cancer. Pauling died of prostate cancer. Edit: This may also be of interest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthomolecular_psychiatry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthomolecular_psychiatry
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• vijaybritto 8mo ago
  My dad if he was alive would have shouted "I told you so"
• elif 8mo ago
  Here you go HN commenters. Last month when I made the observation that "from what I've read recently, I've started to get the impression that the explosion in mental health problems (depression, autism rates etc) has more to do with the western diet than genetics"[0] Y'all called me MAHA and down voted me into the negatives. Please, insult your own analytical ability by doing the same here. This time I'll just revel in your ideologically confined science denial this time. [0] https://scitechdaily.com/simple-three-nutrient-blend-rapidly-improves-autism-behaviors-in-mice/ https://scitechdaily.com/simple-three-nutrient-blend-rapidly...
  • Cipater 8mo ago
    A study proposing that diet can affect the expression or severity of some autism-related behaviours is not the same thing as claiming “80% of what people consider autism is actually just the western diet's effect on normal brain chemistry."
  • dartharva 8mo ago
    Except depression rates are rising at similar or worse levels in other places too, including sunnier/tropical regions and the ones with "better" diets. The main instigator of depression is still societal as the postmodern era is pushing everyone into seclusion and addicting them to constant individualized dopamine hits, increasing the miserable effect on one's chronic mood and exacerbating one's self-consciousness about it.
• alastairr 8mo ago
  While I agree with the general point Vitamin D is toxic (and ultimately fatal) at high doses, which is why the 'suggested' dosages of between 400IU and 1000IU are so conservative. You may need more, but you should get a blood test.
  • bell-cot 8mo ago
    THIS. And not just for Vitamin D. Not everyone absorbs / metabolizes / excretes vitamins or minerals in the same way. Learning whether or not you're an outlier can be done either the safe way, or the dangerous way.
• zvqcMMV6Zcr 8mo ago
  > So why are all the official sources still so paranoid about Vitamin D It is fat soluble vitamin, together with A, E and K. That in itself makes in more risky in terms of overdose. I didn't hear of any cases outside kids eating jars of vitamin gummies but it does happen.
• anonymous344 8mo ago
  can only say, if you have depression or mental problems: NIACIN. not the niconinamid or whatever which is a scam. do not drink alco or smoke! kidneys will suffer.
• mda 8mo ago
  I would take these articles about vitamin D with a grain of salt, there is a big vitamin D supplement and testing market and most of the studies about the miracles of it are dubious at best
  • buddhistdude 8mo ago
    including the mentioned meta-analysis? if yes, can you explain why you think that it's dubious?
• lynguist 8mo ago
  For a single time fix (“rewire brain to be healthy again”) you need psychedelics (psilocybin has seen multiple studies where its effect is way better than psychopharmacological drugs). A single dose can make you healthy for a year to come, potentially also for life as you’re no longer a potential victim to it ever again.
• tiffanyh 8mo ago
  Before anyone goes out and overdoses on Vitamn D (since lots of multiple vitamin include too much), see this article on toxicity from too much Vitamin D https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557876/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557876/
  • cwillu 8mo ago
    Juxtaposing with the quoted passage from the post: “Because vitamin D is potentially toxic, intake of [1000 IU/day] has been avoided even though the weight of evidence shows that the currently accepted [limit] of [2000 IU/day] is too low by at least 5-fold.” --https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002916522043763 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000291652...
  • seba_dos1 8mo ago
    It cites a study about vitamin D toxicity where the range of cumulative intake causing it was identified to be 2.2 million - 6.3 million IU. When you take 6000 IU daily for a whole year you only reach the lower end of that range, and you definitely shouldn't do that without checking your levels somewhere in between. Taking it for a few months may get you above the recommended blood levels, but is very unlikely to cause issues unless you started with very high levels already (which you most likely did not). Toxic levels of vitamin D can be life threatening, so do keep your levels in check, but you won't get there unless you really try, so if you can't get out of the bed to have your blood tested just start taking it and check it after 3 months when things get hopefully easier for you. Just make sure to get the number of zeros in the dose right.
• samsartor 8mo ago
  Several people in my family have a MTHFR gene mutation that screws stuff up, including causing problems with anxiety+depression. But a simple B12 shot every couple of weeks does wonders.
• RobotToaster 8mo ago
  One flaw in this analysis is that the source he cites for antidepressant effectiveness didn't include tranylcypromine (or any MAOI class drugs), which the STAR-D trial found was one of the most effective antidepressants. (The STAR-D had a cumulative remission rate of 67%, I don't know how to convert that to the format he used) Otherwise I agree that vit D and omega 3 are underrated for depression, it would be interesting to see if they have a cumulative effect with antidepressants.
• DimitriBouriez 8mo ago
  [flagged]
  • buddhistdude 8mo ago
    was this written by an LLM?
    • DimitriBouriez 8mo ago
      I couldn't express this clearly in English with my current level, so the LLM interpreted my idea and expanded on it for me.
• HisNameIsTor 8mo ago
  Wrong unit in text, right? Graphs shows UI. 5000 UI would mean 125µg of D-vitamin. Which is a bit smaller than 5000 000 µg from the next
• rollulus 8mo ago
  Anecdotal, and even meta-anecdotal, but hey: four months ago I started to supplement omega 3 thanks to this hyperbolic HN comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45169875 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45169875 Unlike the commenter, I didn’t suddenly turn into a chess grandmaster, but I did notice that my winter blues didn’t show up this year, the first time in a decade!
• dassarin 8mo ago
  The article even states that nothing here is written in certainty. It’s just pure speculation. No, fish oil and vitamin D do not have a larger effect than SSRIs for depression. Not to say they don’t help, but it’s asinine to state that nutrients are a replacement for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, whose sole purpose is to help with depression, and has been designed by an army of scientists, researchers, psychologists, psychiatrists.
• Forgeties79 8mo ago
  The amount of people in this thread rejecting behavioral health as a legitimate science/field and calling for bootstraps to solve depression et al. is wild to see. So many anecdotes and grand statements saying that it’s all nonsense. Very sad to see.
  • jodrellblank 8mo ago
    > "calling for bootstraps to solve depression et al. is wild to see. So many anecdotes and grand statements saying that it’s all nonsense." That's not what I was doing in my other comments that you replied to. If you have a knot, and imagine all the possible things you can do with your hands and body and tools in the universe and notice that to a first approximation none of them will untie the knot. Not hitting it with a spoon, not stroking your chin, not jazz hands, way more than 99.999% of possible movements will not untie it. Some of the things which won't work also include pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, "not being weak", "toughing it out". "just get over it". All those are no more effective than any other of the 99.999...% of things which won't work. The things which will work are in a tiny space of things involving fingernails, needles, knot-eye-hand-feedback-loop and some understanding of rope and tangles. Or fire. Just because fire will have a useful effect doesn't mean the knot is caused by an imbalance of fire and so you should keep burning your fingers for the rest of your life as "the cure" for knots. The way to untangle a knot is to develop the focused, pointed, targeted skills of untangling knots. And (I argue) the way to untangle negative thoughts is not by powering through them, toughing them out, positive mental attitude, fortitude, being strong, manifestation, dreaming big, just getting over it, or crowbarring your mood up with sledgehammer drugs to an 80-billion neuron network for the rest of your life, or anything else of the millions of other concepts one could do or imagine doing - except the focused, pointed, feedback-loop skills of untangling negative thoughts wielded by a particularly good therapist or by yourself. Whether you develop such a thing by therapy training, meditation, prayer, Stoicism, biofeedback systems, luck, intuition... I suspect there are multiple ways which are effective that can be developed through multiple approaches, but not many. And "I tried thinking my bad thoughts away and it didn't work so it must be genetic" is not one of them.
    • Forgeties79 8mo ago
• snickerer 8mo ago
  If you look at the studies on which this post is based, you find out that the (very) positive effect oft Vitamin D is only short-term. The effect after taking the Vitamin longer than 24 is not significant anymore.
  • seba_dos1 8mo ago
    As one would expect when you get your blood level out of the deficient range? It takes a while to get back down.
• snickerer 8mo ago
  If you look at the studies on which this post is based, you find out that the (very) positive effect of a Vitamin D supplement is only short-term. The effect after taking the Vitamin longer than 24 weeks is not significant anymore.
• janpeuker 8mo ago
  Super interesting, just sad that Omega-3 supplements are one of the main drivers of unsustainable Krill overfishing https://seashepherd.org/2025/02/25/protecting-the-oceans-vital-food-source-krill/ https://seashepherd.org/2025/02/25/protecting-the-oceans-vit...
  • snarky_dog 8mo ago
    [dead]
  • mixmastamyk 8mo ago
    Look for algae oil instead.
• Aeroi 8mo ago
  Most commonly from lanolin, a grease extracted from sheep's wool. It's processed into (7-DHC), the same compound in human skin. 7-DHC is bombarded with UV light, triggering a chemical reaction that creates Vitamin D3.
• humanfromearth9 8mo ago
  The first thing I would do in case of depression is to make sure that the patient's energy levels are good and that mitochondria and other energy-related biochem phenomena work as expected. I know first-hand that low energy-levels and lacking energy production mechanically lead to depression. Also, look at how people (children also) experience the world and their relationships and their stresses when they are tired (or even just hungry) compared to when they are fit... Fix those, and the depression might be gone. This is not bashing against anti-depressants, they play their role to. But in some cases, energy-management is key.
  • nikolatt 8mo ago
    Thank you for the comment. This is not in my area of expertise, so I hope you can clarify - how does one test that "mitochondria and other energy-related biochem phenomena work as expected"?
    • StiviGee 8mo ago
      Second the question
    • ibeckermayer 8mo ago
      There are tests out there like https://www.chrismasterjohn-phd.com/mitome https://www.chrismasterjohn-phd.com/mitome (No affiliation, just have been subscribed to the founder’s substack for a while)
      • Aurornis 8mo ago
        Chris Masterjohn is a noted quack. He takes bits of actual science and research and weaves them together into narratives that make it sound like he has everything figured out with his unique protocols, but it doesn’t hold up to actual scrutiny. People spend years following his ever changing protocols without getting anywhere (beyond placebo effect and a large bill for supplements) I know I won’t convince the parent commenter but hopefully I can convince other readers not to go down this road or invest any money in anything related to him.
• dennis_jeeves2 8mo ago
  How many of you feel worse when taking vitamin D supplements? Alternatively how many of you feel only temporarily better?
• Aurornis 8mo ago
  Vitamin D and Omega-3 are the two supplements that consistently appear to be super powerful in small studies and then fail to do anything significant at all in larger studies. Pause for a moment and consider the mere plausibility of the claims in the first few paragraphs: The effect size for antidepressants is 0.4, but the effect size for Vitamin D is 1.8? Are we to believe that Vitamin D supplements have an effect size 4.5X larger than antidepressant drugs, and nobody noticed this massive discrepancy until now? Effect size is also a favorite metric in this vein of supplement-over-pharma writing because it’s so commonly misunderstood and it’s so easy to find small supplement studies that have outlier effect sizes. To put it in context, even common OTC pain meds can have effect sizes lower than 0.4 depending on the study. Have you ever taken Tylenol or Ibuprofen and had a headache or other pain reduced? Well you’ve experience what a drug with a small effect size on paper can do for you. Please be very careful when someone tries to tell you that supplements are miraculous and pharmaceutical drugs don’t work at all. I know too many people who delayed trialing SSRIs for years due to internet driven fears and lost many years of their lives to depression based on content like this. People with cabinets full of dozens of supplement bottles that were chosen based on studies, too. Then they finally decided to try real antidepressant medications and wished they’d done it sooner. As much as I wish we could all just cure depression by taking a simple Vitamin D supplement that has 4.5X higher effect size than antidepressant drugs, this claim just isn’t passable.
  • dec0dedab0de 8mo ago
    Anecdotally, Vitamin D and B12 had more of a positive effect on my mental health than therapy or any of the half dozen prescription meds I tried. Hiking has the biggest effect though. I think maybe the problem is that therapists are diagnosing people, and psychiatrists are prescribing pills based on those diagnoses, but neither are ordering bloodwork to check for deficiencies. Which leads to a lot of people suffering from lack of basic health, and treating the symptoms with SSRIs that have withdrawl symptoms a million times worse than most of the problems they treat. Now to your point, I seriously doubt that vitamin D will hold up against anti-depressants and therapy if we control for other health and quality of life issues. I just think there is a ton of misdiagnosis, and lack of root cause analysis in the mental health field, and health care in general.
• jlebar 8mo ago
  Scott Alexander observes in this piece https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/all-medications-are-insignificant https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/all-medications-are-insigni... that the effect size for even EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE medications are remarkably low. > Zolpidem (“Ambien”) has effect size around 0.39 for getting you to sleep faster. Ibuprofen (“Advil”, “Motrin”) has effect sizes between from about 0.20 (for surgical pain) to 0.42 (for arthritis). All of these are around the 0.30 effect size of antidepressants. ... > Some of our favorite medications, including statins, anticholinergics, and bisphosphonates, don’t reach the 0.50 level. And many more, including triptans, benzodiazepines (!), and Ritalin (!!) don’t reach 0.875. As for why, read his essay I guess. But I wouldn't take at face value the interpretation of effect sizes in the original article. (I also couldn't say why the effect size of vit D and Omega-3's is so large, although per Scott Alexander's article if fewer people drop out of the treatment group, that should increase the effect size, so maybe the relative tolerability of the treatments is part of the story?)
• joshhart 8mo ago
  Vitamin D toxicity is absolutely real, causes hypercalcemia, and can occur even at the 4,000 IU dose. I would really recommend you be getting regular bloodwork done if you go beyond that. Here’s a fun podcast on a case study. https://www.barbellmedicine.com/podcast/episodes/episode-381-how-a-supplement-sent-a-soldier-to-the-hospital-a-medical-mystery/ https://www.barbellmedicine.com/podcast/episodes/episode-381...
• benterix 8mo ago
  > "mild hypercalcemia" increased from 3% to 9%. IMHO, that's a small cost for reducing the risk of major depression & suicide." - I believe this crucial bit is missing from TLDR
• NathanielBaking 8mo ago
  Why does this keep popping up? "Evidence does not support the use of vitamin D supplementation for the prevention of cancer, respiratory infections or rheumatoid arthritis. Similarly, evidence does not support vitamin D supplementation for the treatment of multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis or for improving depression/mental well-being." https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4907952/#:~:text=Bottom%20Line.%20Vitamin%20D%20supplementation%20does%20not,conflicting%2C%20poor%2Dquality%20evidence%20and%20cannot%20be%20recommended. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4907952/#:~:text=Bo...
• shevy-java 8mo ago
  I am taking so much Vitamin D and I can confirm! It is depressing ... :( (Note: my own real therapy is to do what is fun. That is, humour. This can occur via social interaction; it can also happen to some extent by studying human behaviour via ... youtube videos! There are some surstromming videos that are just epic display of human behaviour. If aliens ever arrive here, I'll show them the Top 3 videos there. Either they will laugh too - or flee from this strange planet.)
• Roark66 8mo ago
  I used to take a supplement with 10k vit D units. Made by a reputable company here in Europe. I did a blood test for vit D metabolites (oh 25 or something). It turned out I was deficient. The doc gave me 8k units as a prescription drug. In theory weaker. After 2 months I was no longer defiecient (kinda borderline). After 4 months the doc decided to go down to 4k iu. Now I wonder why some experts are telling people to take 10k iu? Is it because the supplements are crap and contain 10% of what they claim? (I've been taking vit K as well)
  • Aurornis 8mo ago
    > Now I wonder why some experts are telling people to take 10k iu? Taking 10K per day is a bad idea. I went into the excess Vitamin D range with half that dose even in winter with an indoor job. More is not always better.
  • dec0dedab0de 8mo ago
    I think the general idea is that the stats labs use to decide what is normal is not necessarily ideal, and like everything else will vary per person. Too much Vitamin D3 can be toxic, so doctors are reluctant to tell you to go over published guidelines. but if you don't have other issues, and stick to what you can get OTC from a normal vitamin brand and follow the instructions, you're probably safe. There was a story a while ago about a woman who died from too much D3, but it turned out she was taking a whole bottle's worth every day for years.
• SubiculumCode 8mo ago
  Precision Medicine is the way, and maybe we will get there one day Too many effective agents are averaged away because the population for whom it is effective is just a subset of the population with the targeted symptom.
• bevan 8mo ago
  A useful way to look at the effects of vitamin d and omega-3s: supplementation isn't really a hack, it's more that their removal is a handicapping of our "normal" state. Our evolutionary conditions would have been more rich in both of those things. Also see light exposure during the day, proximity to green space, etc.
• Geee 8mo ago
  You might want to take magnesium with Vitamin D, because taking vitamin D depletes magnesium. Not sure if it's strictly necessary, but if you're already low on magnesium it might be an issue. I once got tinnitus (which lasted a few months) when supplementing Vitamin D, the only explanation I've figured is that my magnesium was very low, which can cause tinnitus. Might be something else too, who knows.
• sreekanth850 8mo ago
  I had sleeplessness that eventually led to depression and gastritis. I took medication for two years to recover. The root cause was a vitamin D deficiency my level was 8 ng/mL, which was far below the required range. There was a period when i was only able to sleep with medicines. Now coming back to normal life.
• empressplay 8mo ago
  Also magnesium! Magnesium bisglycinate, in particular. Great stuff.
• JohnMakin 8mo ago
  I have seasonal affective disorder and was taking a medication that sort of helped, but was causing mood swings if taken even slightly out of rhythm, increased my blood pressure, and was just generally not that effective, but it was better than nothing. Last winter I switched to vitamin D (it was already uncovered in blood tests I had a deficiency, which is what turned me onto it - when I started taking it, I felt a lot better) and omega 3 and I won't go back. I wish someone had told me a decade ago, probably would have saved a lot of damage to my organs (another reason I got off of it)
• dimitrov 8mo ago
  To add another data point: 4,000 IU (two Kirkland capsules) daily keeps my Vitamin D levels at the high end of the reference range. I also take six Kirkland fish oil capsules which happens to hit the 1,500 mg DHA+EPA target suggested in the article. Honestly, Costco supplements are hard to beat since they're both USP certified and are usually the cheapest.
• maerF0x0 8mo ago
  I saw a thing from HealthyGamerGG youtube[1] that he said one of the things about depression is that it causes/influences one to avoid the things that would make their life less depressing. eg just to paint the picture: you're depressed so you don't get out of bed, therefore you don't go do your workout, therefore you lack endorphins and look in the mirror and see squishy, you're sad about how squishy you are and so you get more depressed. You're more depressed so you also don't do your dishes, when you do get out of bed you are depressed you feel like a slob and you're squishy, so you get more depressed... Whereas adding anti-depressants, and other virtuous cycle things like vitD/O3, exercise et al. Give the boost necessary to _make your life less depressing_ ... So if you know someone who's depressed, it might be helpful to help them make their life less depressing too. (in addition to all the best medical advice!) [1]- he's a real Dr... Dr. Alok Kanojia (Dr. K), a Harvard-trained psychiatrist (MD, MPH) specializing in modern mental health
  • witherk 8mo ago
    >he's a real Dr. Careful, he is also a believer in Ayurveda[1]. Which basically basically categorizes people into different elements like fire and water and then tries to change their diet and habits to match their elemental style or something. You can hear him talking about it here [2]. Kinda reminds me of Humorism [3]. Dr. K seems like a nice enough guy but don't get too lured in by the "Harvard-trained" credentialism. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ2xnThRGPg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ2xnThRGPg [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humorism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humorism
    • maerF0x0 8mo ago
      I agree there's nuance, but he's way above the "has a webcam and yeti blue" bar that most of youtube falls under, that was my point in putting his credential up. Not to rise him to a perfect status, but to not allow him being on youtube to fall to the minimum bar of youtube.
    • seec 8mo ago
      Definitely agree. He sometimes says things that sound interesting or true, but for the most part I believe he is full of it. The field of psychology is barely removed from charlatanism anyway, having a diploma from Harvard doesn't change that.
• tracker1 8mo ago
  At this point, I mostly avoid prescribed medications and don't take very many things at all regularly. Mostly because I've had some of the worst interpretations of the side effects of most medications I've ever been on. These include hospitalizations and side effects I'm still dealing with years after (looking at you Trulicity/Ozempic)... I'm usually able to reason or force my way through depression and the like, but have had a few deep bouts in my life. The medications have ranged from ineffective to building a tolerance quickly, to just plain worse than the symptoms being treated. Nothing like missing your highway exit multiple times back and forth because you get lost "in" the drive on medication, or having 140 browser tabs open and losing 5 hours of work time. Everyone is different. I am amazed at how much western society has so many hormonal issues that come down to the lack of quality or appropriate fatty acid intake and a lack of something as simple as more outdoor/sun time. I think the "low fat/cholesterol" advice for most of the past half century combined with the increase in snacking and junk foods have been massive disservices to humanity as a whole. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the effects are multi-generational in the making either.
• bawolff 8mo ago
  > The twisted kink is caused by the hydrogens being on opposite sides, hence "trans". (And yes, if they're on the same side it's "cis". Latin was a mistake.) Why you being mean to latin? ;)
• meroes 8mo ago
  I used to have very rough winters. Despite the fact that I ate well and was outside 2+ hours every day. I got my blood tested and I had very low vitamin D, two tiers below normal. This was the first winter being on Vitamin D, and my energy and hunger levels stayed normal. I never crashed or had extreme hunger or trouble sleeping. Getting Vitamin D from food is a fools errand, and since sunscreen and protective clothing slow vitamin D from the sun drastically, it's in most people's best interest to get it tested.
  • strontian 8mo ago
    You may consider that you have a dust mite allergy. If you have any of: chronic coughing, frequent sickness, eczema, or IBS then that is even more evidence this is your problem.
    • meroes 8mo ago
      Not a bad suggestion, I live in the country so it's very dusty here and my digestion has always been wonky. Thank you.
• hmhrex 8mo ago
  This is all in a book called The Depression Cure by Stephen S. Ilardi (https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-depression-cure-the-6-step-program-to-beat-depression-without-drugs-stephen-s-ilardi-phd/2183e5c35226352dt https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-depression-cure-the-6-step-...) I read this years ago and it's fascinating. Looks like it's been updated for a second edition last year.
• lazarus01 8mo ago
  I’ve personally found meditation, exercise and healthy food intake are more effective for self regulation and coping with tough emotions over medication and supplements. Each human being is unique, as is the recipe for sustained positive metal health. I think it’s helpful to consider and experiment with different ideas and strategies. I strongly disagree there is one single solution that can provide significant lift for a large population.
• fairytalemtg 8mo ago
  Homemade Avocado toast is easy and inexpensive
• buildsjets 8mo ago
  Anecdotally, I've been taking a 5,000 IU vitamin E supplement this winter. Seattle area, indoor desk job, I am a vampire. It does seem to help, I would rate it as going from a C to a B grade. I'd prefer not to use antidepressant medications to fix a problem that for me is mostly caused by living at a different latitude than I grew up in. Do be aware that not all vitamin E supplements actually contain the dosage that they are labeled at, and that inclues both no-name brands and some big name brands. I'm having trouble finding a good reference on google due to AI and SEO pollution. But I recall Nature Made was labelled accurately and that is what I buy. My wife on the other hand has struggled with life-long anxiety/depression even when living in Atlanta. For her a fairly low dose of lexapro enables her to live her life like a normal person. We wish we could get her mother to give it a shot for a few weeks, as she now can see a lot of similarities in both their personality traits that were affected by a life of untreated anxiety. We also have cat that would probably have been put down for fear-biting of people and attacking our mild and mellow dog until we got his aggression under control with kitty prozac. I kid you not, it's a transdermal fluoxetine cream we put in his ear each day. Without the constant anxiety stimulus in the way, his real personality came through and he is actually very sweet. To me at least. Still bites my wife, but not hard anymore, just enough to keep her alert.
  • basch 8mo ago
    >caused by living at a different latitude than I grew up in. or society in its current incarnation. its an underexpressed opinion that maybe depression is a justified reaction to ... life, as humans across a lot of earth in 2026.
  • y1n0 8mo ago
    Do you mean vitamin D? Humans don’t produce vitamin E at any latitude.
• ece 8mo ago
  Staying awake is an antidepressant, up to a limit.
• devops000 8mo ago
  On mobile a padding would make reading better. Add px-4 if you use tailwind in the article body.
• jsolomon 8mo ago
  I was an RA at the RAND Corp who put together literature reviews for mental health interventions like this. The Vitamin D result is implausible. If true it would be the biggest breakthrough in the history of psychiatry. This is the referenced meta-analysis: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/effect-of-vitamin-d-supplementation-on-depression-a-systematic-review-and-doseresponse-metaanalysis-of-randomized-controlled-trials/8F18452740B621CC04F441F037A2513B https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medici... The largest N study (N=18,353; more than half of the entire 31 study sample) included is https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2768978 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2768978, which found: "Risk of depression or clinically relevant depressive symptoms was not significantly different between the vitamin D3 group...and the placebo group." The highest dose study (100,000 IU/week) included is https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30532541/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30532541/, which found: "...the treatment response or BDI scores did not differ significantly between groups." The paper/supplementary materials doesn't include a simple table of the depression outcomes for the 31 included studies, which is a glaring omission. I think someone just messed up here. Maybe missed a decimal place? For a more realistic perspective, here's another careful meta-analysis of RCTs of Vitamin D for depression that found null result: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0899900714004857 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S08999... (granted, 2015). And another from 2025 that found a .36 effect size, which is plausible and still fantastic: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1622796/full https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.... I don't mean to dissuade people from trying these given the low risk profile, just don't expect to go from a C to an A.
• hirvi74 8mo ago
  I started back on Vitamin-D and Omega-3 (with extra EPA & DHA) about 2 months ago or so. Sadly, I don't feel much of a difference, but I believe the potential harms are quite minimal, so I am going to maintain supplementation for the purposes of self-experimentation.
  • seba_dos1 8mo ago
    It took me more than 3 months to get to the lower edge of the desired range with my blood level on about 8000 UI daily. There was no instant improvement, it takes time. Do keep your levels in check though.
• RankingMember 8mo ago
  Hey OP, kudos for being so engaged in the discussion + making edits and not just firing the link off and then going AFK. Makes the comments more interesting and (I think) the actual work better.
• Fischgericht 8mo ago
  I can only provide anecdotical evidence, which is ... not evidence, really. Within my peer group of people on the spectrum (which very often comes with a depression, which is logical) we've discussed Vitamin D studies for years. And multiple of us decided to give it a try for a couple of months. And neither those who tried it INSTEAD of an SSRI, nor those that took both (SSRI + D) could report any measurable difference. I have a theory on why is that: It is known that low levels of Vitamin D is one likely cause for depression - in Northern Europe, where during winter time people do not get enough sunlight, that correlates very clearly with the suffering of depression. But potentially it simply does not work the other way round: I moved to near the equator, and I therefore basically have sunlight shining out of my butt, but still am depressed. It makes sense that in this case Vitamin D makes no difference at all. In summary my theory would be: Vitamin D only has an effect on a depression that was caused by a lack of Vitamin D.
• tsoukase 8mo ago
  As a neurologist I cannot be persuaded. Their is a huge placebo and confounding component in the spectrum stress-depression. There are syndromes where AD drugs make wonders, literally saving lives, and others where they are useless. But taking 150000 IU of vitD per month definitely doesn't have the effects it promises.
• sleight42 8mo ago
  Try NSAIDs. Depression is a set of emotions. Emotions affect the body. I thought to try NSAIDs to deal with the physical discomfort. That partially shutdown the feedback loop of mood -> body discomfort -> reinforcing mood. There are studies that show this is an effective intervention.
• evelynteddy5 8mo ago
  [dead]
• KernelPryanic 8mo ago
  I’ve been taking them when I was in hell, for abotut half a year, you know what? I think they didn’t help me a bit. But Mirtazapine did.
• GeorgeOldfield 8mo ago
  why is this nonsense trending here? this is a random blog
• amai 8mo ago
  How many people have depression without vitamin D deficiency? And how many people have vitamin D deficiency, but no depression? Are there any studies about that?
• memorysafety 8mo ago
  > due to some quirk of evolution, Omega-3, -6, and -9 are the ones biological life uses most. As far as I can tell, there's no specific reason they're all multiples of 3. Probably just a coincidence. This curio bothered me as well. I didn't yet get a fully satisfying explanation for this either. There's this diagram, showing for example the full pathway of how linoleic acid catabolizes: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Linoleic_acid_beta_oxidation.svg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Linoleic_acid_beta_o... It shows dependencies of the process onto several very specific molecular machines we call enzymes. (main pathway, handling saturated fatty acids) ° Acyl CoA dehydrogenase -- removes 2 hydrogens from carbons immediately after the carboxylic head, forming a π-bond (double-bond) between the α-β carbons; ° Enoyl CoA hydratase -- adds water as H-OH to that α-β carbons π-bond; ° 3-hydroxyacyl CoA dehydrogenase -- converts the added -OH hydroxyl group to =O keto group; ° β-ketothiolase -- grabs the two keto groups, and snips off 2 carbons from the chain, carrying them off in bound form as a molecule of acyl-CoA; (unsaturated side-branch) ° Dienoyl CoA reductase -- collapses two neighboring π-bonds into one; ° Enoyl CoA isomerase -- converts cis- to trans- variants, making them compatible with Enoyl CoA hydratase. Pathway continues from there. These, when viewed as a set of combinators, seem perfectly sufficient to metabolize any fatty acid chain. Their chemistry reads pretty straightforward — and it must deal with cis/trans isomerism shenanigans, with neighboring π-bonds, with odd/even parity of the carbon chain. But it apparently handles all that! Besides catalysis (combustion of the acids for energy), the two other paths for consumed fatty acids are excretion, and laying them into cell walls and membranes. These two paths aren't selective; they mostly don't care about the length of the chain, and where which π-bonds occur in it, if any. So this must imply, that the "quirk of evolution" lives somewhere on the anabolic (synthesis/production) side of fatty acids; definitely not on the catabolic side.
• DanielleMolloy 8mo ago
  Surprised this hasn‘t been mentioned at all in such a long discussion: I became pretty suspicious of most supplement brands last year. Many omega-3 capsules are rancid (which can have adverse effects and can easily go unnoticed with a capsule), and the vitamin D brands I tried didn‘t seem to do anything for me at all. I switched to cod liver oil instead. It‘s a staple in Scandinavian cultures, so there are several well-controlled brands available that taste neutral (or are lightly flavored, e.g. lemon). It’s a combined substance containing omega 3, vitamins D, E, and A, and appears to be much more bioavailable than many capsule-based supplements, especially given the oxidation issues. Don’t want to prime anyone - try it yourself - but many people, myself included, report fairly immediate effects. I am not talking about the capsules, they are a fairly recent invention, I mean the plain oil on a spoon like in the old days. Alongside magnesium, it’s currently my only „supplement“.