A major study led by the University of Queensland (UQ) has found that newborn babies with low levels of vitamin D are at a higher risk of developing mental health disorders later in life.
The study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, is the largest of its kind and involved data from 71,793 people, many of whom had been diagnosed with mental health conditions during childhood or early adulthood.
Professor John McGrath from UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute led the research. The study was conducted in collaboration with the National Center for Register-Based Research at Aarhus University and the State Serum Institute in Denmark.
The team examined the link between vitamin D levels at birth and six different mental health disorders: major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and anorexia nervosa.
The findings showed a clear connection between vitamin D deficiency at birth and an increased risk of three specific disorders: schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and ADHD. This is not the first time low vitamin D has been linked to mental health issues.
Previous studies suggested that a lack of vitamin D during the neonatal period—when a baby is just born—increases the risk of developing schizophrenia and autism. However, this new study went a step further by examining a broader range of mental health conditions and including more detailed evidence from two specific vitamin D-related biomarkers and related genetic information.
Vitamin D plays an important role in the development of a baby’s brain. Professor McGrath explained that many pregnant women around the world have low levels of vitamin D, which may affect the baby’s brain development. This could be why low vitamin D levels at birth are linked to mental health issues later in life.
He also mentioned that vitamin D is similar to folate, which is recommended during pregnancy to prevent spina bifida. Optimizing vitamin D levels during pregnancy and early life may similarly help reduce the risk of mental disorders in adulthood.
The study was based on data from the iPSYCH project, which was launched in 2012 to study mental disorders in Denmark. This massive project collected information from thousands of people to better understand the causes and development of mental health conditions.
Vitamin D is mainly produced when the skin is exposed to sunlight, but it can also be obtained from certain foods like fatty fish, eggs, and fortified milk, as well as from supplements. Pregnant women are often advised to take vitamin D supplements to ensure their levels are adequate.
According to the researchers, increasing vitamin D intake during pregnancy could be a simple and effective way to help protect the mental health of future generations.
These findings suggest that vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy could be as crucial as folic acid in supporting healthy brain development. While folic acid helps prevent physical developmental problems like spina bifida, vitamin D may play a similar role in protecting against mental health disorders.
The researchers are hopeful that this study will encourage more attention to vitamin D levels during pregnancy and early childhood. They believe that boosting vitamin D intake could become a key step in preventing disorders like schizophrenia, autism, and ADHD, making a significant impact on long-term mental health.
Further research is planned to confirm these findings and explore how much vitamin D is needed to achieve the best protection for newborns. If successful, this could lead to new recommendations for vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy, possibly changing how mental health conditions are prevented in the future.
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The research findings can be found in The Lancet Psychiatry.
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