Vitamin D, extraversion and openness

Posted on Mon, 8 Aug 11

A number of studies suggest vitamin D deficiency can affect your mood but most have looked at serious illness like dementia, depression and schizophrenia.  Strikingly, it now seems that low vitamin D might also change your basic personality.

A research group from the Department of Physiology, University of Tuebingen, Germany set out to see if blood vitamin D levels corresponded with basic personality traits such as neuroticism, extraversion, openness to new experiences, agreeableness and conscientiousness in a group of healthy men and women.

Of all the personality traits they looked at it was found that higher blood levels of vitamin D were associated with higher levels of extraversion and openness.

Vitamin D has several important functions in the brain and influences neurotransmitters involved in mood and cognition so the notion that vitamin D might promote extrovert and open behaviour is not too difficult to believe. Of course, if you are vitamin D deficient you might be less open to the possibility.

Source:

Ubbenhorst A, Striebich S, Lang F, Lang UE. Exploring the relationship between vitamin D and basic personality traits. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2011 Jun;215(4):733-7.