Chinese men with high visceral fat were 4.9X more likely to have low vitamin D (under 30 ng) – Nov 2015

Higher visceral fat area increases the risk of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency in Chinese adults.

Nutr Metab (Lond). 2015 Nov 25;12:50.

Caption summary
Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (<20 μg/L) to the quartiles of visceral fat area in
Men: <90 cm2, 90=116 cm2, 116-140 cm2,: ≥140 cm2

Zhang M1, Li P1, Zhu Y1, Chang H2, Wang X1, Liu W3, Zhang Y3, Huang G1.
1Department of Nutrition and Food Science, School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300070 China.
2Department of Nutrition and Food Science, School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300070 China ; Department of Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300070 China.
3Health Education and Guidance Center of Heping District, Tianjin, 300040 China.

BACKGROUND:
Visceral fat area (VFA), a novel sex-specific index for visceral fat obesity (VFO) might play a major role in the development of vitamin D deficiency. However, the association between VFA and vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency in Chinese population is less clear. The aim of this study was to explore the population-level association between VFA and vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency among Chinese men and women.
METHODS:
This cross-sectional study involved 1105 adults aged 20-70 years living in Tianjin who were randomly selected and medically examined. All subjects underwent the bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) method to estimate the VFA. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH) D3) level was assayed by the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method and defined insufficiency and deficiency following recommended cutoffs. The association between VFA and vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency was estimated using binary regression analysis.
RESULTS:
The total prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency (25(OH) D3: 20-29 μg/L) and deficiency (25(OH) D3 < 20 μg/L) were 26.60 % and 24.89 %, respectively. Significant negative association was observed for VFA with serum 25(OH) D3 levels in men and pre-menopausal women (P < 0.05), not in post-menopausal women (P > 0.05). Moreover, increased VFA was observed to be associated with higher vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency risk with a positive dose-response trend (P for trend < 0.001). As compared to individuals with the lowest VFA, those who had the highest VFA were at 4.9-fold risk of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency [95 % confidence interval (95 % CI): 1.792-13.365] in men and 1.8-fold risk of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency (95 % CI: 1.051-3.210) in pre-menopausal women, but not in post-menopausal women [odds ratio (OR) (95 % CI): 2.326(0.903-5.991)].
CONCLUSIONS:
These results suggest that higher VFA increases the risk of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency in men and pre-menopausal women, but not in post-menopausal women. VFA is a better and convenience surrogate marker for visceral adipose measurement and could be used in identifying the risk of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency in routine health examination.

PMID: 26612998
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Overview Obesity and Vitamin D contains the following summary

• FACT: People who are obese have less vitamin D in their blood
• FACT: Obese need a higher dose of vitamin D to get to the same level of vit D
• FACT: When obese people lose weight the vitamin D level in their blood increases
• FACT: Adding Calcium, perhaps in the form of fortified milk, often reduces weight
• FACT: 168 trials for vitamin D intervention of obesity as of Dec 2021
• FACT: Less weight gain by senior women with > 30 ng of vitamin D
• FACT: Dieters lost additional 5 lbs if vitamin D supplementation got them above 32 ng - RCT
• FACT: Obese lost 3X more weight by adding $10 of Vitamin D
• FACT: Those with darker skins were more likely to be obese Sept 2014
• OBSERVATION: Low Vitamin D while pregnancy ==> more obese child and adult
• OBSERVATION: Many mammals had evolved to add fat and vitamin D in the autumn
  • and lose both in the Spring - unfortunately humans have forgotten to lose the fat in the Spring
• SPECULATION: Low vitamin D might be one of the causes of obesity – several studies
• SUGGESTION: Probably need more than 4,000 IU to lose weight if very low on vitamin D due to
    risk factors such as overweight, age, dark skin, live far from equator,shut-in, etc.
• Obesity category has 441 items

See also: Weight loss and Vitamin D - many studies   Child Obesity and Vitamin D - many studies   Obesity, Virus, and Vitamin D - many studies
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• Normal weight     Obese     (50 ng = 125 nanomole)

Click here for 2014 study

Obese need 2 - 3 X more vitamin D (click on chart for details)

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