Vitamin D supplements do not appear to help people with early psychosis

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-12-29 03:00

Australia; International; VIC; QLD

Photo by Michele Blackwell on Unsplash

Taking vitamin D supplements does not appear to help people with their mental and physical health during early psychosis, despite high levels of vitamin D deficiency in this cohort, according to Aussie and international researchers. The study recruited about 150 people who had recently been diagnosed with early psychosis, and treated half of them with vitamin D supplements over a period of six months. At the end of the study, the researchers say there were no clear improvements in the vitamin D group compared to the placebo group. They say because there is such a strong correlation between vitamin D deficiency and psychosis, more research should be done in this area.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The University of Queensland, Deakin University, King’s College London, UK

Funder: The study was funded by grant 13T-006 from the Stanley Medical Research Institute and received support from the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust and King’s College London and the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) South London at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Dr McGrath is supported by the Danish National Research Foundation (Niels Bohr Professorship). Dr McGrath is employed by The Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, which receives core funding from Queensland Health. Dr Berk is supported by an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellowship. Drs Gaughran and Landau are in part supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London, the Maudsley Charity, and, along with Dr Williams, by the NIHR ARC South London at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

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