Vitamin D is mostly known for its impact on depression and anxiety — but did you know it also can impact your ADHD as well? We know that locations in the world with less direct sunlight tend to have higher rates of ADHD, and locations with more sunlight tend to have lower rates. Of course, that’s correlational (not causal), but considering Vitamin D is the sunshine vitamin, there’s something to it. So, here’s how How Vitamin D Impacts ADHD
What Happens When Vitamin D Hits Your ADHD Brain
Once vitamin D reaches the brain, it doesn’t really behave like a typical vitamin. Researchers also consider vitamin D to be a neurosteroid hormone — meaning it acts directly on brain tissue through vitamin D receptors found throughout the brain, and it appears to play a role in shaping brain development itself. That might be why better maternal vitamin D status and diet quality during pregnancy are linked to larger brain volumes in children, and those larger brain volumes were, in turn, associated with fewer traits of ADHD and autism.
When we look at research in ADHD brains, we find a few things:
- Vitamin D has been associated with minor improvements in brain wave activity in people with ADHD.
- Another study found it increased dopamine levels, though not serotonin or BDNF levels (BDNF is a protein tied to brain cell growth and plasticity).
- Better maternal vitamin D status and diet quality during pregnancy were linked to larger brain volumes in children, and those larger brain volumes were, in turn, associated with fewer traits of ADHD and autism.
- Vitamin D also directly increases the activity of tyrosine hydroxylase by binding to the vitamin D receptor inside brain cells. Tyrosine hydroxylase is the enzyme that lets us create our dopamine — when we don’t have enough activity, we don’t create as much dopamine.
Final Thoughts
The way vitamin D works in the brain affects many areas that also impact ADHD — on top of general mental health. Couple this with how ADHD people are more likely to be deficient in vitamin D, it makes sense to get outside and check your levels.
For a complete list of the top blood tests to ask your doctor for to see if your nutrient levels are affecting your ADHD symptoms, check out my ADHD Blood Test Masterlist: complete with the most likely culprits according to the research and optimal levels to aim for.
This article summarizes the research from the aforementioned studies and the author’s knowledge. It is for educational purposes only. Nothing in this article constitutes medical advice.