B-12 levels affect treatments for depression

People suffering from major depression seem to respond better to antidepressants and therapy if they have higher levels of vitamin B-12 in their blood, suggesting that supplements or a diet high in B-12 might help successfully battle depression.

In the past, researchers have linked low levels of the vitamin with a poor response to treatment for depression. But in a new study, researchers from Kuopio University Hospital in Kuopio, Finland, found a link between normal to high levels of B-12 and treatment success.

The authors measured blood levels of vitamin B-12 in 115 depressed outpatients as they began treatment and again six months later. Those patients who responded to treatment had higher levels of the vitamin at the beginning and end of the study than those whose treatment didn’t work.

The study appears in the Dec. 2 issue of the online journal BMC Psychiatry.

-- Jane E. Allen