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Vitamin D Depression

Posted on 07 March 2010

Vitamin B5 Deficiency, Alcoholism And Depression

Due to the frequency and popularity of alcohol consumption in the world and the fact that alcohol depletes vitamin B5, lack of vitamins can be a lot more common than we thought. In this article, SKinB5 takes a look at the relationship between alcohol consumption, vitamin B5 deficiency and depression.

Symptoms of vitamin B5 deficiency are fatigue, chronic stress, and depression. Vitamin B5 is needed for hormone formation and uptake of amino acids and the brain chemical acetylcholine, which combine to prevent certain types of depression.

An important function of vitamin B5 is that it aids the body in alcohol detoxification. It is also necessary to counteract stress and to maintain a healthy nervous system. A study showed that vitamin B5 speed up liver detoxification of acetaldehyde after alcohol consumption. It is essential for those who consume excessive alcohol because acetaldehyde appears to be a major chemical the toxic process that accompanies long term alcohol use. Vitamin B5 is needed in higher amounts in liver disease and those who use alcohol excessively.

Alcoholism and depression

Biochemical depression has certain symptoms that distinguish it from depression stemming from negative life events. Heavy drinking a major contributor to biochemical depression. You are likely to be biologically depressed if:

– You are depressed for a long time despite changes your life

– Talk therapy has little or no effect, in fact, psychological probing

– You do not react to good news

– You wake up very early in the morning and can not get back to sleep

– You can trace the onset of your depression in any event in your life

– Your moods can swing between depression and elation over a period of months with a regular rhythm (this suggests bipolar, or manic-depressive, Disorder)

– Heavy drinking makes your depression worse

Depression, like other emotional problems, often have biochemical roots that stem from the destructive effects of alcohol on brain chemistry. Research has proven that the relationship between biochemistry and depression. Autopsies of people who have committed suicide have revealed biochemical disruptions that are unique to suicidal depression.

Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency and Depression

The effects of nutritional deficiencies in brain chemistry can cause depression, anger, listlessness, and paranoia.

One of the most dramatic cases of vitamin and mineral deficiencies involved someone who was arrested four times for drunken driving but continued to drink daily. He is 30, divorced and living alone. He rarely ate more than one meals a day, usually fast food or junk food. He lived on coffee, cigarettes, and beer. Paul confided that he was probably going to lose his sales job because he does not motivate itself. He blamed all his problems with depression. There are so many aspects of his lifestyle that suggested a real depletion of natural chemicals he needed to recover from alcoholism and depression.

People are diagnosed and given Shots B-complex, and he remarked that his doctor must have injected him with an amphetamines! The effect of restoring the life-giving elements are dramatic. He also made many lifestyle changes that contributed to its recovery, but one of the most important is the replacement of certain key natural ingredients that helped relieve his depression.

Vitamin B5 (and vitamin B-Complex)

Vitamin B5 and the B-complex vitamins are essential to mental and emotional well-being. They can be stored in our bodies, so we hope all our daily food to supply them. B vitamins, especially vitamin B5 which is easily destroyed in cooking and modern food processing, are destroyed by alcohol, refined sugars, nicotine, and caffeine-the very element most alcoholics consume almost to the exclusion of everything else. Small wonder that deficiencies develop.

Here's a rundown of recent findings about the relationship of B-complex vitamins to depression:

– Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid): Symptoms of deficiency are fatigue that, chronic stress, and depression. Vitamin B5 is needed for hormone formation and the uptake of amino acids and the brain chemical acetylcholine, which combine to prevent certain types of depression.

– Vitamin B (thiamine): Deficiencies trigger depression and irritability and can cause neurological and cardiac disorders in alcoholics.

– Vitamin B2 (riboflavin): In 1982 an article published in the British Journal of Psychiatry reported that each of 172 consecutive patients admitted to a British psychiatric hospital for treatment of depression is not enough to B2.

– Vitamin B3 (niacin): depletion causes anxiety, depression, anxiety, and fatigue that.

– Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine): Deficiency can disrupt formation of neurotransmitters. Vitamin B6 is a coenzyme necessary for the conversion of tryptophan to serotonin and phenylalanine and tyrosine to norepinephrine. I have discussed the relationships of these neurotransmitters to depression earlier in this chapter.

– Vitamin B12: Deficiency cause of depression.

– Folic acid: Deficiency is a common cause of depression.

Vitamin C

Continued lack of vitamin C causes chronic depression, fatigue, and vague ill health.

Mineral

Deficiencies in a number of minerals can also be cause of depression.

– Zinc: deficiency results in apathy, lack of appetite, and sleepiness. When zinc is low, copper in the body may increase due to toxic levels, resulting in paranoia and fearfulness.

– Magnesium: Symptoms of deficiency include confusion, apathy, loss of appetite, lethargy, and insomnia.

– Calcium: depletion affects the central nervous system. Low levels of calcium cause nervousness, anxiety, irritability, and numbness.

– Iron: Depression is often a symptom of chronic iron deficiency. Other symptoms include general weakness, listlessness, fatigue, loss of appetite, and headaches.

– Manganese: This metal is needed for proper use of B-complex vitamins and vitamin C. Since it also plays a role in amino acid-formation, a deficiency may contribute to depression stemming from low levels of the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine. Manganese also helps to stabilize blood sugar and prevent hypoglycemic mood swings.

– Potassium: depletion is often associated with depression, fearfulness, weakness, and fatigue. A 1981 study found that depressed patients are more likely than controls to decreased intracellular potassium. Reduced brain levels of potassium have also been found in autopsies of suicides. You can boost your potassium intake by using a teaspoon of Morton's Lite Salt everyday.

The Safety of Supplements

Vitamin C and the B-complex vitamins discussed above are all water soluble. This means that they can accumulate in your body or be stored for future use. The values above and beyond your current nutritional needs are dumped into your urine. As a result, there is no risk of overdose.

Unlike water soluble vitamins, minerals can be stored in your tissues. Therefore, please do not exceed the recommended therapeutic dose, because the accumulation of minerals in body can be dangerous.

SkinB5 contains vitamin B5 and zinc, so while treating your acne, it can help prevent alcohol related depression and mental health support.

About the Author

Nick Bell
http://www.skinb5.com

How can vitamin D affect depression?