Can Vitamin D Help with Mild Cognitive Impairment?

TLDR:

• No Cognitive Boost from Vitamin D: A 24-month study found that vitamin D supplements did not improve brain function, specifically executive function, in older adults with mild to moderate vitamin D deficiency. 🧠

• Placebo vs. Supplement: The study compared a group taking vitamin D supplements to a group taking a placebo, and there were no significant differences in cognitive outcomes between the two groups.

• Remote Study Design: The research was conducted remotely with over 600 participants, demonstrating an innovative and effective way to carry out large-scale clinical trials. 💻

   

If you like what you see here, check out our board-approved continuing education courses for PTs. We cover topics like:

- Nutrition interventions for chronic diseases (e.g., obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases)

- Advanced nutritional strategies to support physical therapy for patients with metabolic disorders

- Case studies demonstrating successful integration of nutrition into physical therapy care plans

Each physical therapy CEU course emphasizes practical, evidence-based learning, ensuring that participants can immediately apply the skills to their clinical practice. Sign up today and save!

Transcript:

Hey y'all, Dr. Wells here from St. Augustine Beach. I'm at the beach because I'm trying to get some sun for some vitamin D. This research update today is on vitamin D and it's on the effects of vitamin D on individuals with mild cognitive impairment. I know we as physical therapists who work with older adults, a lot of them can present with this mild cognitive impairment.

We might catch it while we see them in hospital or when we catch them with some balance disorders and um there's some early evidence showing that possibly vitamin D might help and that if there are deficient supplementing that vitamin D may have some neurological effects or immunological neurological interactions. Well, this recent randomized controlled trial published August of 2025 by Corbett et al titled Impact of Vitamin D Supplementation on Cognition in Adults with Mild to Moderate Vitamin D Deficiency. This is the Vitamind RCT.

Kind of contradicts that. So overall sample size 620 individuals with mild to moderate vitamin D deficiency. They also have mild cognitive impairment.

So what did they do? Well, they said let's give you 4,000 IUs, that's international units of vitamin D per day for 24 months and then we're going to reassess you at 6 months, 12 months, and 24 months. Well, after that they saw no significant differences in their cognition. So what does this mean? Well, we would think the people that are most at risk right that with mild cognitive impairment maybe there's association and we know that some other data points pointed around vitamin D deficiency and outcomes like improved balance and improved muscular performance and things, but it didn't pan out for this group and partly because that might be that vitamin D deficiency may be an implication for other things like lack of outdoor exercise in the sun, could be poor dietary patterns, which could also be associated with some of those mild cognitive impairments.

So in the end it's disappointing to see this, but it's also good that we publish this type of these type of studies because more often than not you know 70 something percent of articles that are published usually have some sort of positive association and we're always like add more in, add more in, but for PTs we need to be aware that our patients with mild cognitive impairment they're not going to see a benefit of vitamin D supplementation. Now, will it help them in other areas? Maybe, yes, but let's not oversell it, right? So anyhow, I hope you like the study. If you like our content, check out our three board-approved continuing education courses.

You can earn your certificate in nutritional physical therapy today. It's at www.nutritionalphysicaltherapy.com. Have a great day!