Alexithymia is associated with low level of vitamin D in young healthy adults

Objective: Vitamin D plays an important role in brain development and functioning. Low levels of vitamin D have been described in several psychiatric and neurologic conditions including autism spectrum disorder. Alexithymia that shows high comorbidity with autism is also present in the general population as well as hypovitaminosis D. Methods: Here we assessed the relation between alexithymia as measured by the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 and vitamin D level in healthy young adults. Results: We found an inverse correlation between the levels of alexithymia and vitamin D. Discussion: These data suggest the association between disturbed emotional processing and low levels of vitamin D to be present in young healthy subjects.