Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in adults admitted to psychiatric hospital • Hacker News Board

Re: Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in adults admitted to psychiatric hospital

#71

Post by walshemj » Sat, May 05, 2018, 6:44 PM UTC

ovao wrote: post #65

mikehotel wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Be careful with increased exposure to sunlight. UV is a known carcinogen. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/radiation-exposu... There are safer sources of vitamin D.

To this end, I strongly suggest checking your local UV index before heading outdoors for any extended period of time. I use an iOS app called UVLens (no affiliation), which displays your local UV index throughout the day and can give you an estimate of how long before you’ll burn (based on skin color, eye color, etc.) Provided you’re taking reasonable precautions, limited exposure to broad-spectrum UV is quite safe.

You just need to slap on some suntan location if its going to be sunny - which what I do to counter the increased risk due to meds I have to take

Re: Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in adults admitted to psychiatric hospital

#72

Post by swsieber » Sat, May 05, 2018, 6:46 PM UTC

freeflight wrote: post #61

oliwarner wrote: post #52

HN health posts tend to get posted without context and you'll get a pile of people [inadvertantly, I'm sure] pushing their supplement regime as a way to stave off clinical depression et al. This paper is NOT saying that low VitD causes psychiatric admission, just that patients may require supplements to bring them back to healthy levels. You get most of your vitamin D from skin exposure to sunlight so it's reasonable…

> HN health posts tend to get posted without context and you'll get a pile of people [inadvertantly, I'm sure] pushing their supplement regime as a way to stave off clinical depression et al. I wouldn't say people are necessarily "pushing" their personal regimes, more often than not people are merely exchanging their personal experiences with certain issues. Personally, I've had actual relief from a really annoying i…

Thank you for mentioning the Magnesium & teeth grinding link. I'll be giving that a try (and after some reading, I appear to have a magnesium deficiency).

So yes, I don't think people are "pushing" their personal regimes - they are just applicable anecdotes.

Re: Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in adults admitted to psychiatric hospital

#73

Post by Franciscouzo » Sat, May 05, 2018, 6:50 PM UTC

jimnotgym wrote: post #30

As these kind of stories are so popular on HN, I recently started curating a list at https://github.com/Jimnotgym/Hacking_Depression I hope it helps someone one day.

Here's another list that might be of interest: http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/06/16/things-that-sometimes-h...

Re: Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in adults admitted to psychiatric hospital

#74

Post by diimdeep » Sat, May 05, 2018, 6:53 PM UTC

grok2 wrote: post #63

jxub wrote: post #51

And abundance of vitamin D through sun exposure is a reason why it's great to live in Mediterranean Basin, Australia or California instead of Norway, Sweden or Canada. Sun is a huge factor in both health and happiness although the northern societies seem to underplay it.

"It has been suggested by some vitamin D researchers, for example, that approximately 5–30 minutes of sun exposure between 10 AM and 3 PM at least twice a week to the face, arms, legs, or back without sunscreen usually lead to sufficient vitamin D synthesis..." as per [1]. Maybe the quality of exposure is different? Atleast from reading articles like this, it seems like normally people at any latitude should not have…

There is massive genetic factors related to producing Vitamin D.

Re: Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in adults admitted to psychiatric hospital

#75

Post by TheForumTroll » Sat, May 05, 2018, 7:01 PM UTC

jxub wrote: post #51

And abundance of vitamin D through sun exposure is a reason why it's great to live in Mediterranean Basin, Australia or California instead of Norway, Sweden or Canada. Sun is a huge factor in both health and happiness although the northern societies seem to underplay it.

That just underlines that northern countries are happier even more.

Re: Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in adults admitted to psychiatric hospital

#76

Post by diimdeep » Sat, May 05, 2018, 7:06 PM UTC

I live in Moscow, last winter we had only few hours of sunlight in December. Two months ago I went to test Vitamin D and got Reading:

- Holick MF, Binkley NC, Bischoff-Ferrari HA, Gordon CM, Hanley DA, Heaney RP, Murad MH, Weaver CM; Endocrine Society. Evaluation, treatment, and prevention of vitamin D deficiency: an Endocrine Society clinical practice guideline. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2011 Jul;96(7):1911- 30. doi: 10.1210/jc.2011-0385. Epub 2011 Jun 6.

- Guidelines for preventing and treating vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency revisited. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2012 Apr;97(4):1153-8. doi: 10.1210/jc.2011-2601.

- Vitamin D deficiency: a worldwide problem with health consequences. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Apr;87(4):1080S-6S.

- Vitamin D deficiency in the Middle East and its health consequences. Clin Rev Bone Miner Metab 7:77–93

- Vitamin D supplementation guidelines Pawel Pludowski

- Treatment of hypovitaminosis D with pharmacologic doses of cholecalciferol, oral vs intramuscular; an open labeled RCT. Zabihiyeganeh M1, Jahed A, Nojomi M.

Re: Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in adults admitted to psychiatric hospital

#77

Post by TheForumTroll » Sat, May 05, 2018, 7:07 PM UTC

yosito wrote: post #41

yosito wrote: post #2

TL;DR the jury is still out on whether or not you need the D for your mental health.

I'm not sure if I got downvoted for the joke, or because people think I'm wrong, but near the end of the study it says "At the current time, there is insufficient evidence to draw any firm conclusions regarding an association between vitamin D deficiency and non-musculoskeletal health outcomes, including mental illness." So the jury is in fact out on whether or not you need vitamin D for your mental health.

Both. One is a Reddit joke and the other is wrong no matter what the linked article says. There are hundreds of studies that link mental health problems like Schizophrenia and Vit.d deficiency.

Re: Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in adults admitted to psychiatric hospital

#78

Post by cuspycode » Sat, May 05, 2018, 7:08 PM UTC

grok2 wrote: post #63

jxub wrote: post #51

And abundance of vitamin D through sun exposure is a reason why it's great to live in Mediterranean Basin, Australia or California instead of Norway, Sweden or Canada. Sun is a huge factor in both health and happiness although the northern societies seem to underplay it.

"It has been suggested by some vitamin D researchers, for example, that approximately 5–30 minutes of sun exposure between 10 AM and 3 PM at least twice a week to the face, arms, legs, or back without sunscreen usually lead to sufficient vitamin D synthesis..." as per [1]. Maybe the quality of exposure is different? Atleast from reading articles like this, it seems like normally people at any latitude should not have…

This is a hasty conclusion. For example, the city of Kiruna in northern Sweden (latitude 67 degrees north) has about three weeks of total darkness each winter. So there is no sun exposure at all during that time. And even south of the arctic circle, the chance of getting 5-30 minutes of sun exposure twice a week is not guaranteed in northern countries. For example, you might be stuck in an office building while the sun is above the horizon.

Re: Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in adults admitted to psychiatric hospital

#79

Post by YokoZar » Sat, May 05, 2018, 7:25 PM UTC

derefr wrote: post #67

triangleman wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A "shut-in" is someone who spends a lot of time at home alone, not getting any sunlight. Then when their symptoms of mental illness are manifested enough to require hospital admission, they are tested for vitamin D at that point and it's unsurprisingly low.

I guess that that is a thing that could happen in the temperate and frigid zones of the Earth. It would be interesting, though, to attempt to replicate the study in a tropical region, where it's nearly impossible to not get enough sun, even indoors.

Glass windows block the kind of UV radiation you need to produce Vitamin D. You really have to actually go outside to produce it.

Re: Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in adults admitted to psychiatric hospital

#80

Post by smt88 » Sat, May 05, 2018, 7:40 PM UTC

fb03 wrote: post #22

smt88 wrote: post #7

Something worth noting is that many mental illnesses cause symptoms (lack of motivation, social anxiety, fear of leaving the house, etc.) that make people less likely to go outside.

Sadly you can't affirm that to all of the affected population, that needs testing. Some mentally ill people like to go out and walk mindlessly all day long. I am sure you know some 'walkers' in your vicinity, there's always one.

Causality needs testing, but correlation isn't a wild leap. 25% of Americans suffer from either depression or anxiety, and the next-highest disorder isn't even close[1]. Those ambulatory people are highly visible, but a tiny fraction of the overall population.

1. https://www.nami.org/learn-more/mental-health-by-the-numbers