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Current Evidence for the Benefits of Melatonin,
Dosage, Cautions and Interactions, Buyers Guide,
Sleep Tips, Jet Lag Remedies, Seasonal Affective Disorder,
Current News and Books.

"Here's just a smattering of the studies performed over the past 30 years on the psychological effects of wheat consumption.

Oddly, this never makes the popular press. But wheat underlies schizophrenia, bipolar illness, behavioral outbursts in autism, Huntington's disease, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The relationship is especially compelling with schizophrenia:

Opioid peptides derived from food proteins: The exorphins.
Zioudrou C et al 1979
"Wheat gluten has been implicated by Dohan and his colleagues in the etiology of schizophrenia and supporting evidence has been provided by others. Our experiments provide a plausible biochemical mechanism for such a role, in the demonstration of the conversion of gluten into peptides with potential central nerovus system actions." "

Vitamin D and mood disorders among women: an integrative review.
Murphy PK, Wagner CL.
J Midwifery Womens Health. 2008 Sep-Oct;53(5):440-6. Review.
PMID: 18761297

Four of six studies reviewed imparted significant results, with all four showing an association between low 25(OH)D levels and higher incidences of four mood disorders: premenstrual syndrome, seasonal affective disorder, non-specified mood disorder, and major depressive disorder. This review indicates a possible biochemical mechanism occurring between vitamin D and mood disorders affecting women, warranting further studies of these variables using rigorous methodologies.

Omega-3 fatty acids: evidence basis for treatment and future research in psychiatry.
Freeman MP, Hibbeln JR, Wisner KL, Davis JM, Mischoulon D, Peet M, Keck PE Jr, Marangell LB, Richardson AJ, Lake J, Stoll AL.
J Clin Psychiatry. 2006 Dec;67(12):1954-67. Review. Erratum in: J Clin Psychiatry. 2007 Feb;68(2):338.
PMID: 17194275

Conclusions: The preponderance of epidemiologic and tissue compositional studies supports a protective effect of omega-3 EFA intake, particularly eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), in mood disorders. Meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials demonstrate a statistically significant benefit in unipolar and bipolar depression (p=.02). The results were highly heterogeneous, indicating that it is important to examine the characteristics of each individual study to note the differences in design and execution. There is less evidence of benefit in schizophrenia. EPA and DHA appear to have negligible risks and some potential benefit in major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder, but results remain inconclusive in most areas of interest in psychiatry. Treatment recommendations and directions for future research are described. Health benefits of omega-3 EFA may be especially important in patients with psychiatric disorders, due to high prevalence rates of smoking and obesity and the metabolic side effects of some psychotropic medications.

Can vitamin D supplementation prevent winter-time blues? A randomised trial among older women.
Dumville JC, Miles JN, Porthouse J, Cockayne S, Saxon L, King C.
J Nutr Health Aging. 2006 Mar-Apr;10(2):151-3.
PMID: 16554952

CONCLUSIONS: Supplementing elderly women with 800 IU of vitamin D daily did not lead to an improvement in mental health scores.

Vitamin D vs broad spectrum phototherapy in the treatment of seasonal affective disorder.
Gloth FM 3rd, Alam W, Hollis B.
J Nutr Health Aging. 1999;3(1):5-7.
PMID: 10888476

All subjects receiving vitamin D improved in all outcome measures. The phototherapy group showed no significant change in depression scale measures. Vitamin D status improved in both groups (74% vitamin D group, p < 0.005 and 36% phototherapy group, p < 0.01). Improvement in 25-OH D was significantly associated with improvement in depression scale scores (r2=0.26; p=0.05). Vitamin D may be an important treatment for SAD. Further studies will be necessary to confirm these findings..

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of winter-time depression experienced by people those who live in northern latitudes such as those of New York, Seattle, all of Canada, and Northern Europe. I believe it is primarily a disorder of sunlight/vitamin D deficiency.
Vitamin D, when administered in late winter, produces a positive effect on mood in only five days.[1] One theory for this is that vitamin D stimulates the brain to produce more serotonin. In a wintertime experiment, serum vitamin D levels doubled in six months through supplementation and dramatically increased scores on a wellbeing assessment.[2] Two groups were given either 1,000 IU or 4,000 IU of vitamin D daily. And although both groups improved, the higher dose produced better results.

Published March 30th, 2009 in General Interest, Health, Health News, Health and Wellness, Life, Medical News, Nutrition, Parents, Popular
Scientists studying a mysterious neurological affliction in pregnant cats that have been fed irradiated food have discovered a surprising ability of the central nervous system to repair itself and restore function when placed back on a normal diet.

In a study published today (March 30, 2009) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison reports that the restoration in cats of myelin - a fatty insulator of nerve fibers that degrades in a host of human central nervous system disorders, the most common of which is multiple sclerosis - can lead to functional recovery

Association between depressive symptoms and 25-hydroxyvitamin D in middle-aged and elderly Chinese.
Pan A, Lu L, Franco OH, Yu Z, Li H, Lin X.
J Affect Disord. 2009 Feb 25. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 19249103
doi:10.1016/j.jad.2009.02.002    

ScienceDaily (Mar. 18, 2009) - A lack of Vitamin D, due to reduced sunlight, has been linked to depression and the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), but research by the University of Warwick shows there is no clear link between the levels of vitamin D in the blood and depression.