Vitamin D increases Opioid Addiction

Vitamin D deficiency may increase the risk for addiction to opioids and ultraviolet rays (through sun-seeking behavior) by strongly exaggerating their craving as per human health records and studies of lab mice at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), published in Science Advances.

This suggests that addressing the common problem of vitamin D deficiency with inexpensive supplements could play a part in combating the on-going scourge of opioid addiction.

Medical Management of Vitamin Deficiencies
Vitamins are essential for our body to grow and develop normally. Vitamin deficiencies are widespread. Understand the role of dietary sources in vitamin deficiency prevention.

‘Vitamin D deficiency may increase the risk for addiction to opioids and ultraviolet rays. Human health records and studies of lab mice suggest that vitamin D levels influence the desire for opioids and sun-seeking behavior.’

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Earlier studies showed that exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays (specifically the form called UVB), causes the skin to produce the hormone endorphin, which is chemically related to morphine, heroin, and other opioids. And these endorphin levels in mice were responsible for opioid addiction.

Endorphin is a neurotransmitter (neurochemical) sometimes called a "feel good" hormone because it induces a sense of mild euphoria.

Vitamin D is responsible for promoting the uptake of calcium, which is essential for building bones. And Sun is the ultimate source of vitamin D. This compelled the human tribes for evolutionary migration to step out of caves and into the sunshine on bitterly cold days during prehistoric times, as weak bones might have shattered when people ran from predators, leaving them vulnerable.

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Vitamin D and Opioid Addiction

The theory thus hypothesizes that sun-seeking is driven by vitamin D deficiency, to increase the synthesis of the hormone for survival. And this vitamin D deficiency might also make the body more sensitive to the effects of opioids, potentially contributing to addiction.

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Vitamin D is an essential vitamin necessary for the development of bones. Sunlight helps the body to produce vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency results in rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults.

The present study thereby addressed this theory in normal and vitamin D deficient laboratory mice. "We found that modulating vitamin D levels changes multiple addictive behaviors to both UV and opioids," says lead author Lajos V. Kemény, MD, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research fellow in Dermatology at MGH.

Also, when the mice were conditioned with modest doses of morphine, those deficient in vitamin D continued seeking out the drug, when compared to the normal mice. When morphine was withdrawn, the mice with low vitamin D levels were far more likely to develop withdrawal symptoms.

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Vitamin D the sunshine vitamin is essential for strong bones. Vitamin D deficiency is reportedly increasing worldwide and cause bone pain and muscle weakness.

The morphine also demonstrated its efficacy as a pain reliever in mice with vitamin D deficiency. This speculates that if the patient is deficient in vitamin D, the euphoric effects of morphine could be exaggerated thereby increasing the chance of addiction. The study was also supported by various analyses of human health records.

"When we corrected vitamin D levels in the deficient mice, their opioid responses reversed and returned to normal. Our results suggest that we may have an opportunity in the public health arena to influence the opioid epidemic," says David E. Fisher, MD, Ph.D., director of the Mass General Cancer Center's Melanoma Program and director of MGH's Cutaneous Biology Research Center (CBRC), who laid the foundation for the current study.

However further research is needed to confirm the findings that treating vitamin D deficiency may offer a new way to help reduce the risk for OUD and bolster existing treatments for the disorder.

Source-Medindia