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Depression and Vitamins

by Kevin Caruso

Along with exercising and eating a sensible diet, taking vitamins is important when you are suffering from depression.

A deficiency in vitamins and minerals may be part of the cause of your depression. Thus, it is imperative that you take vitamins every day.

So which vitamins should you take?

There has been much debate about which vitamins you should take for depression, and in what amounts. You could do an extensive study and still be bemused about what you should do.

So, the best thing to do is to buy the best multivitamin that you can, and make sure that it is high in the B-complex vitamins – B-complex vitamins are definitely important to fighting your depression. Compare labels on the vitamin boxes and buy the vitamins with the highest dosages of all vitamins, but particularly the highest B-complex dosages.

The best place to buy vitamins is at a health food store. Ask the clerk at the store for recommendations. And again, compare labels before you make your decision. If you do not have a health food store in your area, you can consider buying vitamins on the internet.

Also, ask for recommendatations for multivitamins from your doctor and psychiatrist or therapist.

Let me give you some additional information on vitamins, but keep in mind that you want to buy the best multivitamin that you can find, and make sure that it is high in B-complex vitamins. Keep the process for purchasing vitamins simple.

Vitamins are essential nutrients that your body needs for proper functioning. And your body cannot manufacture the vast majority of them, so you need to take vitamin supplements.

Also, vitamins are either water soluble or fat soluble. The fat-soluble vitamins are A, D, E and K. And the water-soluble vitamins are B-complex and C.

Water soluble vitamins are not stored in your body for very long, thus you need to be sure that you take your multivitamin every day so these vitamins can be replaced. Numerous studies have indicated that the B-complex vitamins are vital to mental health, and since the B-complex vitamins are water soluble, they need to be replaced daily.

And remember to compare labels to make sure that you are taking high dosages of B-complex vitamins.

Label information for vitamins and minerals will indicate the name of the vitamin or mineral and the dosage. The dosages will be shown as one of the following:

• mg – milligrams (one milligram = one thousandth of a gram)
• mcg – micrograms (one microgram = one millionth of a gram)
• IU – international units (IU is a quantity that produces a particular biological effect. Thus, each vitamin would have a different conversion ratio to milligrams.)

The vitamins and minerals will also be listed with “daily values.” These are values that are set by the government, but for many vitamins you want to be well above the “100%” level.

To review, you need to take a multivitamin every day. Take the very best multivitamin that you can find, and remember that the B-complex vitamins are extremely important, so ensure that the mulivitamin that you take is high in B-complex vitamins. A vitamin deficiency can cause or exacerbate your depression, so, again, take a multivitamin every day.