A recent investigation has demonstrated that children who were found to have low levels of vitamin D in their bloodstreams were a lot more likely to be predisposed to rapid weight gains, and also to accumulating more fat around their waists. Researchers are not yet sure about the mechanisms underlying this correlation, but they say that these conclusions are definitely worth more in-depth investigations. These findings have thus far only been reported true in children.
Experts from the
University of Michigan (U-M), who conducted this research, say that the new study adds more fuel to the ongoing debate currently taking place in the United States, among healthcare professionals.
Most researchers say that the daily recommended dosage of vitamin D is insufficient to cover an average person's needs. No one knows at this point the precise amount of the chemical that needs to be consumed daily for a healthy life.
This particular vitamin is produced naturally in the skin, when we are exposed to sunlight for about 10 minutes per day. But not many people nowadays do so, especially in urban environments.
Additionally, some use sunscreen to avoid getting skin cancer. This issue is a double-edged sword for healthcare experts. The only solution is to supplement vitamin D intake to compensate for the amounts lost by not exposing your skin to the Sun.
Fatty fish such as salmon, tuna and sardines, fish oils, mushrooms, beef liver and whole eggs are the main natural sources of vitamin D, although some cereals and milk brands augment their products with the chemical as well.
“We found that the kids with the lowest vitamin D levels at the beginning tended to gain weight faster than the kids with higher levels,” explains of the new study epidemiologist Eduardo Villamor.
He holds an appointment as a associate professor in the U-M School of Public Health, and is also a senior author of the new investigation. The expert adds that children with low levels of the stuff also reported more drastic increases in central body fat measures.
He and his group conducted the survey on a group of 479 kids in Bogota, Columbia, who were aged 5 to 12. The work began in 2006, and the young ones were tracked for a period of 30 months.
“Our findings suggest that low vitamin D status may put children at risk of obesity,. This is significant because vitamin D insufficiency is highly prevalent across the globe and childhood obesity rates are dramatically increasing worldwide,” adds expert Diane Gilbert-Diamond.
She was a former Harvard student, and is now based at the Dartmouth Medical School. The expert was also the first author of the study, which is published in this month's issue of the respected American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
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