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REVIEW article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition, Psychology and Brain Health
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1551375
This article is part of the Research Topic The Role of Nutrition in Mitigating Depression: Mechanisms, Interventions, and Outcomes View all 4 articles
The Association of Vitamin Deficiency with Depression Risk in Late-life Depression: A Systematic Review
Provisionally accepted- 1 Department of Psychiatry, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
- 2 Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanxi Medical University, 56 Xinjian South Rd, Taiyuan 030001, China., Shanxi province, China
Late-life depression (LLD), a growing public health challenge in aging societies, profoundly impacts physical and mental health by exacerbating cognitive decline, functional disability, and comorbid chronic diseases. Emerging research highlights vitamin supplementation as a promising adjunctive therapy for LLD, targeting its multifactorial pathogenesis involving mitochondrial dysfunction, neuroinflammation, and oxidative stress. Specific vitamins, including B-complex vitamins (B1, B6, B9, B12), vitamin D, and antioxidants (C, E), demonstrate therapeutic potential through mechanisms ranging from neurotransmitter regulation to mitochondrial function enhancement. For instance, vitamin D modulates serotonin synthesis and calcium signaling, while B vitamins mitigate homocysteine-mediated neurotoxicity and support energy metabolism. Antioxidants counteract neural oxidative damage linked to depressive severity. Clinical studies reveal that vitamin D deficiency (<20 ng/mL) correlates with elevated depression risk, and combined B-vitamin supplementation shows symptom alleviation in nutritionally deficient subgroups. However, evidence remains heterogeneous due to variability in dosing protocols, bioavailability, and population-specific factors like comorbidities. Despite growing evidence, critical gaps persist regarding optimal dosages, bioavailability variations, and long-term outcomes in elderly populations. This review synthesizes current evidence on vitamin-mediated cellular pathways in LLD management, evaluates clinical efficacy across interventions, and proposes personalized nutritional strategies to optimize therapeutic outcomes. By integrating mechanistic insights with clinical data, this analysis aims to guide evidence-based vitamin supplementation protocols for LLD within geriatric care frameworks.
Keywords: late-life depression, Vitamins, clinical efficacy, Cellular Mechanisms, Nutritional intervention
Received: 25 Dec 2024; Accepted: 18 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gao, Song, Hu, Du and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Sha Liu, Department of Psychiatry, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
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