Orange County, CA - May 25th, 2018 - According to information presented at the European Society of Endocrinology annual meeting, in Barcelona, higher levels of belly fat are linked with low vitamin D levels in obese individuals. The study suggests that individuals, who are overweight, should have their vitamin D levels checked to bypass any possible health damaging effects.
Almost 30% of people in the world are obese or overweight, causing an estimated 2.8 million deaths per year meaning it truly is a global epidemic. Vitamin D deficiency is generally associated with rickets (a disease in which the bone tissue doesn't properly mineralize, leading to soft bones and skeletal deformities). However, over the years, it has also been associated with cardiovascular diseases, auto-immune diseases, and higher risks of acute respiratory tract infections.
Since there have been previous links reported between the two, researchers wanted to take a closer look at how the amount of total body and abdominal fat measured in participants was related to their vitamin D levels. They discovered that among obese women, higher amounts of liver fat were linked to low vitamin D, and in obese men higher levels of total overall fat were linked to lower vitamin D levels.
"Although we did not measure vitamin D deficiency in our study, the strong relationship between increasing amounts of abdominal fat and lower levels of vitamin D suggests that individuals with larger waistlines are at a greater risk of developing deficiency, and should consider having their vitamin D levels checked." said study author Rachida Rafiq, a doctoral student at VU University Medical Center and Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands.Researchers plan to look further into what makes this strong affiliation between vitamin D levels and obesity. It’s not quite clear whether it’s a lack of vitamin D that predisposes individuals to store fat, or increased fat levels decrease the vitamin D levels.
"Due to the observational nature of this study, we cannot draw a conclusion on the direction or cause of the association between obesity and vitamin D levels. However, this strong association may point to a possible role for vitamin D in abdominal fat storage and function," stated Rafiq.Research presented at the event is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
