Opioid addiction related to low vitamin D in many ways (in both mice and men)
Vitamin D deficiency exacerbates UV/endorphin and opioid addiction
Sci Adv. 2021 Jun 11;7(24):eabe4577. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abe4577
Lajos V Kemény 1, Kathleen C Robinson 1, Andrea L Hermann 1, Deena M Walker 2, Susan Regan 3, Yik Weng Yew 4, Yi Chun Lai 5, Nicholas Theodosakis 1, Phillip D Rivera 6 7 8, Weihua Ding 9, Liuyue Yang 9, Tobias Beyer 1, Yong-Hwee E Loh 2 10, Jennifer A Lo 1, Anita A J van der Sande 1, William Sarnie 1, David Kotler 1, Jennifer J Hsiao 1, Mack Y Su 1, Shinichiro Kato 1, Joseph Kotler 1, Staci D Bilbo 6 7, Vanita Chopra 11, Matthew P Salomon 12, Shiqian Shen 9, Dave S B Hoon 12, Maryam M Asgari 13, Sarah E Wakeman 3, Eric J Nestler 2, David E Fisher 14
Chart of data by Grassroots Health
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The current opioid epidemic warrants a better understanding of genetic and environmental factors that contribute to opioid addiction. Here we report an increased prevalence of vitamin D (VitD) deficiency in patients diagnosed with opioid use disorder and an inverse and dose-dependent association of VitD levels with self-reported opioid use.
We used multiple pharmacologic approaches and genetic mouse models and found that deficiencies in VitD signaling amplify exogenous opioid responses that are normalized upon restoration of VitD signaling.
Similarly, physiologic endogenous opioid analgesia and reward responses triggered by ultraviolet (UV) radiation are repressed by VitD signaling, suggesting that a feedback loop exists whereby VitD deficiency produces increased UV/endorphin-seeking behavior until VitD levels are restored by cutaneous VitD synthesis. This feedback may carry the evolutionary advantage of maximizing VitD synthesis. However, unlike UV exposure, exogenous opioid use is not followed by VitD synthesis (and its opioid suppressive effects), contributing to maladaptive addictive behavior.
14+ Vitamin D titles contain: Opioid OR Opiate OR Morphine
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Vitamin D Life - Pain - chronic category contains:
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Opioid crisis cost US $1.5 Trillion in 2020 (increase of $0.5 trillion since 2019)
__Opioid crisis cost U.S. nearly $1.5 trillion in 2020: Congressional report - MDEdge Sept 2022
"Opioid-related deaths soared during the pandemic, including from the powerful synthetic painkiller fentanyl, exacerbating an already tragic and costly nationwide crisis that accounted for 75% of the 107,000 drug overdose fatalities in 2021, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data."
“It’s equivalent to one 737 (jet) every day going down, no survivors. It’s a mind boggling number of deaths,” (about 150 on 737)