Dietary Supplement May Help With Schizophrenia

NEWS

An editorial published in the British Journal of Psychiatry suggests that sarcosine, an amino acid derivative, may help with schizophrenia.

COMMENT

Studies are increasingly showing the role of nutrition in schizophrenia and psychosis. In a recent example, research suggests newborn babies with vitamin D deficiency have an increased risk of developing schizophrenia later in life. Other research supports this by showing that vitamin D supplementation during the first year of life is associated with a reduced risk of schizophrenia in males.

A scientific review and meta-analysis of 28 studies published in 2018 found that psychosis is associated with multiple nutritional deficiencies. Published in the  Schizophrenia Bulletin journal by researchers from the UK, Australia and Belgium, the data shows that, compared to non-psychiatric individuals, patients newly diagnosed with psychosis have significant reductions in levels of folate, vitamin D, and vitamin C. Notably, the researchers observed that patients with the lower levels of these nutrients also had the worst mental health.

In other research, a scientific review of worldwide studies published in 2017 found that add-on therapy with high-dose B vitamins can significantly reduce symptoms of schizophrenia more than standard antipsychotic drug treatments used alone. Published in Psychological Medicine, one of the world’s leading psychology journals, B-vitamin interventions utilizing higher dosages or combining several vitamins were consistently found to be effective in reducing psychiatric symptoms. Lower doses, in contrast, were ineffective.