MONTREAL—Providing hospitalized patients with vitamin C supplements bolstered their mood, according to a recent study (Nutrition. ePub 2010 Aug 4. DOI: 10.1016/j.nut.2010.05.016). Researchers from the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research at McGill University worked with colleagues at Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital noted the majority of acutely hospitalized patients have subnormal blood levels of vitamins C and D; deficiencies in those vitamins have also been linked to psychologic abnormalities.
The research team conducted a double blind clinical trial in which patients received vitamin C (500 mg bid) or vitamin D (1,000 IU bid) for seven to 10 days. Mood was assessed using the Profile of Mood States (POMS). Patients taking vitamin C had increased plasma and mononuclear leukocyte vitamin C concentrations; further, there was a 34 percent reduction in mood disturbance in those subjects. While the patients receiving supplemental vitamin D did have an increase in plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations, there was no affect on mood.
In a statement, lead researcher L. John Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D., noted up to 20 percent of acute-care patients at Jewish General Hospital have such low vitamin C levels as to be associated with scurvy. “But patients are rarely given vitamin supplements," he said. “The lack of any effect of vitamin D on mood is good evidence we are not dealing with a placebo response. This looks like a true biological effect. Our finding definitely requires follow up in larger studies in other centres. The treatment is safe, simple and cheap, and could have major clinical practice implications."
