Vitamin D Benefits 4 Mental Health | Robert D. McMullen, MD Psychiatrist

September 2019

In this youtube video, Dr. Robert McMullen will discuss how Vitamin D plays a role in mental health, general health and the benefits it can have on one’s mental wellbeing and overall health to prevent diseases such as cancer.

To learn more:  https://tmsbraincare.com/vitamin-d-be...​

Dr. Robert McMullen is a psychiatrist based in New York City.  He’s been practicing psychopharmacology for thirty years.  He discusses a spectrum of methods to deal with different types of mental issues.  His clinic provides his patients with TMS  therapy treatments combatting depression.  Dr. McMullen has practiced TMS for the past ten years.  He was educated in Georgetown University medical school and did his residency at Columbia Presbyterian in NYC.

What is Vitamin D?

Vitamin D is a steroid hormone that is often overlooked mainly because it has the word “Vitamin” attached to it.  I believe that it was misnamed and should have never been named as vitamin because it is really a hormone steroid.   Vitamin D is intimately involved in regulating the immune system (this is the reason why in the winter, when there’s a lack of Vitamin D, humans are more prone to the flu and other compromising diseases during the winter).  It is also beneficial for autoimmune diseases.  Vitamin D is also very helpful to take when being treated with TMS.

In this video, I discuss why people from different regions in the world that have different skin colors and how their skin color,  the sun, and Vitamin D affects them as human beings.  Vitamin D has the ability to bring calcium for the gut into the bloodstream.  Watch the video to find out how the technicalities work, affect mankind and how it has evolved throughout history.

Western Europe

What did human beings (hunter gathers) wear to protect their bodies from the sun? Not much and that is why they were receiving their dose of Vitamin D-- their whole body was exposed to sun!  The further north you are based; the more cancer and autoimmune diseases are prevalent in that region of the world.  This also translates into higher cancer rates in countries where the sun is lacking.  For example, colon and breast cancers are higher in the northern regions of the world. Vitamin D is involved in screening the body and it can play a role in stopping certain small cancers that are in the beginning stages.

Australia despite having all the sun; they have been drilled to use sunscreen all their lives. And since they live in mostly air-conditioned places and because they are very careful about not getting sun they are lacking in Vitamin D. And that is the reason they have high rates of cancer.  For example, in Africa there are different diseases that are more apparent in their society but they are plagued by lower cancer rates.  Lower rates of cancer are found in India, Africa and Central America because they work outside the home and still get more sun.

In one study there was an indication that an adequate amount of Vitamin D can reduce both colon and breast cancer by 70%-- this is very dramatic information! What should the dose be? There is no straight answer by the FDA - the recommendations keep on changing.   Listen to my video to learn more about the right dosage you need to stay safe and healthy.  I discuss how sunlight has a significant impact on your wellbeing and how Vitamin D was first introduced to us.

Vitamin D is important in depression- those who suffer from depression lack Vitamin D but is that because they don’t get out much and therefore don’t produce enough of it?  Vitamin D worked better than light therapy for seasonal depression (a type of depression that occurs in the winter).  The questions that we need to address are how many units do you really need to treat it?  Does your weight play a factor?  What about your age?  Should you take in pill form or in shots (which is enough to last 3 months). How do you figure out all of this?  What are the costs involved in all of this-- you don’t need to break your bank to have Vitamin D play a role in your mental health.  Also during surgeries, those with adequate Vitamin D are more likely to survive their surgery because they have a stronger immune system due to Vitamin D.  I strongly recommend that all of you read more about the benefits of Vitamin D.