Schizophrenia & Multivitamins

Schizophrenia, a psychiatric illness characterized by hallucinations, delusions, inappropriate emotions and disorganized speech and behavior, afflicts 1 percent of the population the world over. More than 3 million Americans and 67 million people worldwide suffer from the illness as of 2009. Schizophrenia is generally believed to occur when a person with a genetic vulnerability encounters certain conditions across the course of his development. Dietary factors might influence the occurrence and course of schizophrenia throughout the lifespan, but multivitamins appear to have a significant impact only during fetal development.

Causes of Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia has genetic causes, but in utero factors, such as the pregnant mother's stress level and diet, affect the likelihood of a child developing schizophrenia. Certain experiences across the lifespan also affect the occurrence and severity of symptoms, including stress, alcohol use and drug use. The period during fetal development may be particularly critical for triggering changes in the brain that later manifest as schizophrenia, as the brain undergoes extraordinary growth and development during those few months. Within 5 weeks after fertilization, the neural tube forms, eventually developing into the brain, spinal cord, hair and skin. The mother's nutrition, even during this early period of her child's development, may play an important role in determining the child's later vulnerability to developing schizophrenia.

Early Research

Early studies on the effect of maternal use of niacin, vitamin B6 and multivitamins provided little evidence supporting supplementation as effective in influencing psychiatric outcomes. A review of 53 studies published in the May 1991 "Biological Psychiatry" examined the effect of controlled trials in which vitamins were administered to pregnant mothers. The authors concluded that administration of high doses of vitamin B6 combined with magnesium might influence the later incidence of autism; however, other outcomes, including hyperactivity, Down's syndrome, IQ changes in healthy school children and schizophrenia, were not related to maternal use of vitamin supplements. The authors noted that many of the studies suffered from various methodological flaws, including small sample sizes.

Maternal Nutritional Deficiency and Schizophrenia

A later review article, published in 2007 in "Schizophrenia Bulletin," examined epidemiological studies of schizophrenia and neural tube defects. Epidemiological studies are performed on larger populations and so have greater statistical power than the early studies that failed to find effects of multivitamin use. The authors concluded that nutritional deficiencies in utero heighten the risk of both schizophrenia and neural tube defects. They suggested that folate and multivitamin supplementation during pregnancy might reduce the risk of developing these two seemingly disparate conditions.

Vitamin D Deficiency During Pregnancy

Mother's who have insufficiency of vitamin D during pregnancy bear children who are at higher risk for rickets, type 1 diabetes and schizophrenia, according to the March 31, 2009, "British Journal of Nutrition." The authors of this study examined the effectiveness of multivitamin supplementation on vitamin D status and found that mothers who supplemented with multivitamins had higher levels of vitamin D, but many still suffered from vitamin D insufficiency. Vitamin D can be ingested in supplements, milk or a few other foods that provide it, but for most people, vitamin D chiefly comes from spending time in the sun. Mothers who lived at a latitude higher than 54 to 55 degrees north were more likely to have vitamin D insufficiency even when supplementing with multivitamins. The authors suggest that, to reduce risk of children developing schizophrenia, rickets and diabetes, vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy should be done at higher doses than typically included in multivitamins.

Multivitamins for Children and Adults with Schizophrenia

There does not appear to be studies that demonstrate a significant effect --- good or bad -- of multivitamins on the severity of schizophrenia symptoms in children and adults; however, people with schizophrenia tend to eat greater amounts of food, including foods high in fats and carbohydrates, but tend to eat less healthful foods such as fruits and vegetables, according to the February 2005 "Psychiatry." The authors noted that while vitamin C intake is adequate, people with schizophrenia are lacking in beta-carotene and are likely deficient in other micronutrients as well. While multivitamins won't decrease schizophrenia symptoms, the risk of side effects are no different than for the general population, and multivitamins can help compensate for vitamins and minerals that are likely missing from their diet.