The Role of Dietary Supplements in Depression and Anxiety – A Narrative Review

Abstract

Introduction Dietary supplements are very widely used in the general population and there is a growing market for them, which is against the recommendations of the German Society for Nutrition. There is some evidence that dietary supplements are useful additions in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. This review is an overview of available practical knowledge regarding the use of supplements in psychiatric treatment. In particular, the review focused on the diagnosis of depression and anxiety in terms of supplement treatment. Methods This is a narrative review of the evidence regarding supplements for treating anxiety and depression. We searched PubMed to 2018. Two reviewers screened the citations and abstracted the data. Phytopharmaceutical attends and animal-based data were excluded. Results There are strong indications regarding the impact of supplements on the selected psychiatric disorders, but at this time, there only a few randomized clinical studies available, so evidence for these findings is quite low. However, it must be noted that there are strong hints for a relationship between vitamin D level and depression. Furthermore, various supplements have got potentially an influence on the characteristics of depression. Discussion This review summarizes the current knowledge about supplements when used for some psychiatric conditions, but the data does not provide compelling evidence in any direction. There are only indications that there is an influence of supplements on psychiatric diseases. In support of this, there is further need for high-quality studies in this field. Reviews on other diagnoses, such as schizophrenia and dementia, will be part of further work.

Vitamin D2 protects acute and repeated noise stress induced behavioral, biochemical, and histopathological alterations: Possible antioxidant effect

“…Although immobility time was comparably greater in vehicle treated acute stressed group but appeared insignificant. Previous studies have stated that Vit D2 supplementation amends depression and anxiety like symptoms ( Hoffmann et al, 2019 ). Clinical trial of depressed older (aged 60 years) patients with Vit D2 supplementation indicates its antidepressant potential (Alvin et al, 2019).…”

Emerging Complementary and Integrative Therapies for Geriatric Mental Health

“…However, in a recent RCT, supplementation with 1200 IU/day vitamin D for 12 months had no effect on depressive symptoms and physical functioning in older persons with relatively low vitamin D status, clinically relevant depressive symptoms, and poor physical functioning [27]. Similarly, another recent review indicated contradictory information between vitamin D for treatment of depressive symptoms [28]. Similarly, although human studies strongly support a correlation between low levels of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and cognitive impairment or dementia in aging populations, prior clinical interventional studies have failed to associate increased 25(OH)D levels with improved cognitive outcomes.…”

Dietary Supplementations and Depression

“…For example, Kazemi et al 17 explained that dietary supplementation, such as prebiotic use, significantly decreased the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores compared with the placebo group, after eight weeks of intervention. Other dietary supplementations, such as polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), vitamin D, 18 B12, 19 magnesium, zinc, 20 and curcumin, 21 have also been studied for their efficacy and effects as add-on supplements for depression treatment. In a review conducted by Hoffman et al, 18 vitamin D and PUFA supplementation had complementarily positive effects on depressive symptoms, anxiety, and pain.…”