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Vitamin D Supplementation Improves Cognitive Function: 12-month RCT

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Re: Vitamin D Supplementation Improves Cognitive Function: 12-month RCT

#11

Post by randmeerkat »

dilap wrote: post #7
ezekiel68 wrote: post #6

Funny -- I was just digesting a competing study released recently[0] which showed little-to-no benefit from vitamin D, Omega 3 fatty acids, and exercise (either alone or in combinations). That study used 5X the daily vitamin D as this one. So I guess the jury's still out and I may choose to continue to err on the side of supplementing vitamin D. [0] https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2020/11/10/Study-Little-bene...

Or just get some sunshine! It's likely there are other benefits, besides just the vitamin D.

Sure, but the winter climates in many geographical regions don’t provide adequate sunlight during winter.

Re: Vitamin D Supplementation Improves Cognitive Function: 12-month RCT

#12

Post by jimrandomh »

This sounds like an important study, but unfortunately it is effectively unpublished; neither Google Scholar nor Sci-Hub is able to find the full text. I'm not willing to trust it without reading the methodology section, and I'm not willing to pay $32 to read it.

If any of the study authors happen to read this: pay close attention to how you publish, the journals will destroy all the value of your study in exchange for a few bucks, if you let them.

Re: Vitamin D Supplementation Improves Cognitive Function: 12-month RCT

#13

Post by msandford »

ezekiel68 wrote: post #6

Funny -- I was just digesting a competing study released recently[0] which showed little-to-no benefit from vitamin D, Omega 3 fatty acids, and exercise (either alone or in combinations). That study used 5X the daily vitamin D as this one. So I guess the jury's still out and I may choose to continue to err on the side of supplementing vitamin D. [0] https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2020/11/10/Study-Little-bene...

There's a big difference between the amount you need to not get rickets (around 100 IU) and the amounts that seem to move the needle on other outcomes (2000 IU or more). The study used 800 IU which to me, isn't great.

Re: Vitamin D Supplementation Improves Cognitive Function: 12-month RCT

#14

Post by rustamm »

ezekiel68 wrote: post #6

Funny -- I was just digesting a competing study released recently[0] which showed little-to-no benefit from vitamin D, Omega 3 fatty acids, and exercise (either alone or in combinations). That study used 5X the daily vitamin D as this one. So I guess the jury's still out and I may choose to continue to err on the side of supplementing vitamin D. [0] https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2020/11/10/Study-Little-bene...

One important factor in vitamin studies is the prevalence of vitamin deficiency in a particular population. E.g. vitamin D in the US might not be as effective because it is already added into many food products, e.g. milk, which is not the case for other countries.

Re: Vitamin D Supplementation Improves Cognitive Function: 12-month RCT

#17

Post by smallnamespace »

maliker wrote: post #2

Effect size... around 5% improvement in the FSIQ score. Not very big. Although the dose of 800 IU/day was small.

5% is a Cohen's d* of 0.3 — a small-to-moderate effect by itself, but surprisingly large for a mere vitamin/hormone rather than a targeted drug.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_size#Cohen's_d

Re: Vitamin D Supplementation Improves Cognitive Function: 12-month RCT

#18

Post by ineedasername »

That's interesting, but they claim the effect was "substantial" and it was statistically significant, but they do not provide the magnitude of the difference. They do not provide the experimental group's baseline metric for cognitive function and the increase.

It also doesn't mention anything about how it controlled for patients' initial levels of vitamin D, or what those levels were. There could be a threshold effect, for example, where raising levels to X produce the result observed, or a linear relationship between D levels & cognitive function...

Certainly the full extent of things like this would require additional research, but the basics would be known just from the data collection on the patients and their results.

I'm not saying I doubt the research: I know vitamin D has some interesting and diverse impacts on the body, so this result would not surprise me if it's true. But the abstract was lacking in important details. (And unfortunately the university library to which I have access does not have this journal in its databases)

Re: Vitamin D Supplementation Improves Cognitive Function: 12-month RCT

#19

Post by ip26 »

ve55 wrote: post #5

It's worth noting that vitamin D has a lot of high-confidence but low-effect results going for it, including a lot of strong meta-analysis over many health outcomes. What I mean by this is that it usually seems to conclusively either do something beneficial, but minor, almost nothing in the case of many studies, and in the case of some others, something very beneficial (as we've seen a few of in relation to covid rec…

almost no risks or real costs

I worry a little about risk compensation, or whatever the equivalent is for diet. That is to say, if I feel like I'm all set on vitamins & minerals via pills, maybe I don't need to try so hard to eat my fruits & vegetables anymore...

Re: Vitamin D Supplementation Improves Cognitive Function: 12-month RCT

#20

Post by radicalriddler »

dilap wrote: post #7
ezekiel68 wrote: post #6

Funny -- I was just digesting a competing study released recently[0] which showed little-to-no benefit from vitamin D, Omega 3 fatty acids, and exercise (either alone or in combinations). That study used 5X the daily vitamin D as this one. So I guess the jury's still out and I may choose to continue to err on the side of supplementing vitamin D. [0] https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2020/11/10/Study-Little-bene...

Or just get some sunshine! It's likely there are other benefits, besides just the vitamin D.

Well I mean, in Australia, that leads to skin cancer, so I'll just take some tablets thanks!
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