We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
To save content items to your account,
please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies.
If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account.
Find out more about saving content to .
To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org
is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings
on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part
of your Kindle email address below.
Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations.
‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi.
‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Folate and vitamin B12 insufficiencies have been associated with increased risk of depression. This systematic review aimed to clarify if, compared with placebo, treatment with folate and/or vitamin B12 reduces depression scale scores, increases remission, and prevents the onset of clinically significant symptoms of depression in people at risk.
Methods:
This systematic review searched the PubMed, PsychInfo, Embase, and Cochrane databases from inception to 6 June 2014, using the following terms and strategy: (vitamin B12 or vitamin B9 or folate or folic acid or cobalamin or cyanocobalamin) and (depression or depressive disorder or depressive symptoms) and (randomized controlled trial or RCT). The electronic search was supplemented by manual search. Two independent reviewers assessed all papers retrieved for eligibility and bias, and extracted crude data. Review Manager 5 was used to manage and analyze the data.
Results:
Two hundred and sixty-nine manuscripts were identified, of which 52 were RCTs and 11 fulfilled criteria for review. We found that the short-term use of vitamins (days to a few weeks) does not contribute to improve depressive symptoms in adults with major depression treated with antidepressants (5 studies, standardized mean difference = −0.12, 95% confidence interval – 95% CI = −0.45, 0.22), but more prolonged consumption (several weeks to years) may decrease the risk of relapse (1 study, odds ratio (OR) = 0.33, 95% CI = 0.12, 0.94) and the onset of clinically significant symptoms in people at risk (2 studies, risk ratio = 0.65, 95% CI = 0.43, 0.98).
Conclusions:
The number of available trials remains small and heterogeneity between studies high. The results of these meta-analyses suggest that treatment with folate and vitamin B12 does not decrease the severity of depressive symptoms over a short period of time, but may be helpful in the long-term management of special populations.
Recommend this
Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this to your organisation's collection.