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Vitamin D Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is naturally present in some foods and added as a supplement to others. The highest level of vitamin D is found in fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, trout, and mackerel. Lesser amounts are present in egg yolks and cheese. Vitamin D-fortified foods include dairy products and cereals (Srivastava, 2021). Vitamin D may also be obtained indirectly from sun exposure. This occurs when the skin absorbs ultraviolet B radiation and converts it to previtamin D3. It becomes vitamin D through isomerization. Ideally, being exposed to the sun for 5 to 30 minutes daily is best to make vitamin D (Srivastava, 2021). The exposed skin should not be covered with sunscreen. In addition, winter sun is not as intense as summer sun. Therefore, more time in the sun is needed in the winter. Also, where you are on the planet affects the sun's intensity. Someone living in Alaska will have a more difficult time obtaining enough vitamin D from the sun than someone who lives near the equator in Central America. Another factor influencing vitamin D production is the skin’s melanin content—more melanin requires more time in the sun. For example, adequate sun exposure times at the equator are 3 minutes for light skin and 15 minutes for dark skin (Kift & Webb, 2024). Also, those with higher skin pigmentation who live near the equator have the advantage of not worrying about excess vitamin D production from living in an environment with intense sunlight (Ames et al., 2021). Likewise, those with lower skin pigmentation living at northern latitudes benefit from being able to synthesize vitamin D with less sun exposure (Maitra et al., 2025). Other factors influencing cutaneous vitamin D production are the time of day, degree of cloud cover, and air pollution (Srivastava, 2021). Anxiety and Depression Why is this relevant to mental health? Research has shown an association between low Vitamin D levels and mental health symptoms. Wen et al. (2024) performed a cross-sectional study of serum vitamin D levels in adults and found an inverse association between vitamin D levels and anxiety risk—individuals with low vitamin D levels were more likely to have anxiety symptoms. Eid et al. (2019) also found that individuals diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder showed decreased anxiety scores after treatment with vitamin D when compared with an untreated group. Another study by Bičíková et al. (2015) showed that participants with anxiety or depression had lower vitamin D levels than a control group. Also, a systematic review of the literature found that vitamin D supplementation in individuals with major depressive disorder was beneficial in reducing negative emotions (Cheng et al., 2020). Finally, Kaviani et al. (2020) found that giving a vitamin D supplement for two weeks to study participants with mild or moderate depression improved the severity of their depression. In summary, research evidence points to low vitamin D levels being associated with anxiety and depression, with some studies showing some improvement in symptoms after vitamin D supplementation. If you are someone with anxiety or depression, it might be worthwhile to ask your doctor to check your serum vitamin D level. This is particularly true of African Americans, as a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency has been reported in African Americans (Ames et al., 2021). I can confirm anecdotally from my psychotherapy practice that a number of my African American clients with anxiety and depression seemed to have benefited from taking physician-prescribed supplements after lab tests showed low serum vitamin D levels. © 2026 Lisa Fracica, MA, MFA, MS, LCPC, LCPAT, LPC, ATR-BC References Ames, B. N., Grant, W. B., & Willett, W. C. (2021). Does the high prevalence of Vitamin D Deficiency in African americans contribute to health disparities? Nutrients, 13(2), 499. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13020499 Bičı́ková, M., Dušková, M., Vítků, J., Kalvachová, B., Řı́pová, D., Mohr, P., & Stárka, L. (2015). Vitamin D in anxiety and affective disorders. Physiological Research, 64(Suppl 2), S101–S103. https://doi.org/10.33549/physiolres.933082 Cheng, Y., Huang, Y., & Huang, W. (2020). The effect of vitamin D supplement on negative emotions: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. Depression and Anxiety, 37(6), 549–564. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.23025 Eid, A., Khoja, S., AlGhamdi, S. A., Alsufiani, H. M., Alzeben, F., Alhejaili, N., Tayeb, H. O., & Tarazi, F. I. (2019). Vitamin D supplementation ameliorates severity of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Metabolic Brain Disease, 34(6), 1781–1786. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-019-00486-1 Kaviani, M., Nikooyeh, B., Zand, H., Yaghmaei, P., & Neyestani, T. R. (2020). Effects of vitamin D supplementation on depression and some involved neurotransmitters. Journal of Affective Disorders, 269, 28–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.03.029 Kift, R., & Webb, A. R. (2024). Globally Estimated UVB Exposure Times required to maintain sufficiency in vitamin D levels. Nutrients, 16(10), 1489. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16101489 Maitra, S., Bose, A., Chatterjee, D., & Bandyopadhyay, A. (2025). Melanin and vitamin D: Unravelling the mechanism and coalition of two archaic biomolecules in human evolution and health. Dermatology Review, 112(4), 235–242. https://doi.org/10.5114/dr.2025.155989 Srivastava, S. B. (2021). Vitamin D: Do we need more than sunshine? American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 15(4), 397–401. https://doi.org/10.1177/15598276211005689 Wen, Z., Bai, L., Wu, S., Chen, J., Jama, H. A., & Sawmadal, J. D. (2024). Association of serum vitamin D with anxiety in US adults: A cross-sectional study. Frontiers in Nutrition, 11, 1371170. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2024.1371170