News
Obese people may need more vitamin D
14 March 2012
Older adults with a higher body mass index have lower vitamin D levels, which needs to be taken into account when determining an adequate dietary vitamin D intake, a new UK study suggests.
04 April 2014
According to a new study from China school children with vitamin D deficiency have an elevated risk of developing diseases caused by higher levels of obesity and oxidative stress.
The observational study measured serum vitamin D concentrations, serum lipids, glucose metabolism indi- cators, inflammatory molecules and oxidative stress markers as well as the body height and width of a total of 1488 school children aged 7 to 11 years (1). The study results showed that almost 80% of the children had suboptimal vitamin D concentrations, including 56% being vitamin D deficient (below 20 ng/mL). The vitamin D deficient children had significantly higher body weight, a higher body mass index, a larger waist circumfe- rence and a higher percentage of body fat, compared to children with sufficient vitamin D levels. In addition, the vitamin D deficient participants had significantly lower concentrations of an antioxidant enzyme (super- oxide dismutase), indicating a weak antioxidation ability, and higher levels of inflammatory markers.
The researchers commented that children are one of the high-risk groups for vitamin D deficiency. Even in countries with significant sunshine, vitamin D deficiency in children is commonly found. Obesity and vitamin D status are known to be associated in adults. However, the causal relationship between them is still con- troversial. Some studies suggested that vitamin D deficiency was influenced by obesity. It was hypothesized that individuals with abnormal weight were susceptible to vitamin D deficiency, because circulating vitamin D is sequestered by excess body fat (2). On the other hand, some other studies reported that vitamin D defi- ciency promoted adiposity: vitamin D deficiency led to elevated parathyroid hormone, which might promote calcium influx into fat cells and thus stimulate the synthesis of fatty acids (3).
14 March 2012
Older adults with a higher body mass index have lower vitamin D levels, which needs to be taken into account when determining an adequate dietary vitamin D intake, a new UK study suggests.
1 November 2012
Rating each and every micronutrient study that is published every day for its quality, reliability and content often requires a good deal of knowledge about nutritional science and biostatistics.
6 June 2014
A new US study says that increased intakes of vitamin C by women who smoke during pregnancy seem to improve measures of lung function for their newborns and decrease the incidence of wheezing for their infants through one year.