“Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Schizophrenia: Study by University of Queensland”

Friday, May 26, 2023, 01:19

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Vitamin D deficiency causes serious mental illness PHOTO: Technology Networks

A team of scientists led by the University of Queensland in Australia, who conducted an extensive study published in the Journal of Neurochemistry on April 21, 2023, made a worrying discovery for human health. Experts have found that lack of vitamin D in the body affects neurons in the brain, leading to schizophrenia, a serious mental illness.

Professor Darryl Eyles built on previous research from his laboratory at the Queensland Brain Institute in Australia linking maternal vitamin D deficiency and developmental brain disorders such as schizophrenia to understand the functional changes that occur in the brain. RIGHT Science Daily.

Schizophrenia is associated with many developmental risk factors, both genetic and environmental. Professor Eyles pursued the mechanisms that might be related to abnormal dopamine release and found that maternal vitamin D deficiency affects the early development and subsequent differentiation of dopaminergic neurons.

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“What we found was that altering the differentiation process in the presence of vitamin D not only causes cells to grow differently, but develops mechanisms to release dopamine differently,” Professor Eyles said.

Using a new visualization tool known as false fluorescent neurotransmitters, the team could then analyze functional changes in presynaptic dopamine uptake and release in the presence and absence of vitamin D.

They showed that dopamine release was enhanced in cells grown in the presence of the hormone compared to a control.

“This is conclusive evidence that vitamin D affects the structural differentiation of dopaminergic neurons.”

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Capitalizing on advances in targeting and visualizing individual molecules in presynaptic nerve terminals allowed Professor Eyles and his team to further explore their long-held belief that maternal vitamin D deficiency alters the way early dopaminergic circuits are formed.

Eyles and his team believe that such early changes in the differentiation and function of dopamine neurons may be the neurodevelopmental origin of dopamine dysfunction later in adults who develop schizophrenia.

We mention the fact that vitamin D can be assimilated by the body from several sources, such as exposure to the sun, from food or supplements. Among the foods we specify: cod liver oil, salmon, tuna, herring, trout, orange juice, dairy products, cheeses (yoghurt, margarine, soy milk, milk with 1-2% fat), sardines, beef liver, egg yolk egg, fortified cereals, mushrooms.

“Regular exposure to the sun is important to improve your vitamin D status. Those with more melanin (darker skin) need longer exposure to the sun as it is more difficult for the rays to penetrate the skin,” said Sue -Ellen Anderson-Haynes, nutritionist and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics United States.