Vitamin D May Lower Diabetes Risk in Obese Children and Adolescents

This sounds good, but obesity has other adverse health effects. And too much vitamin D is harmful.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130326121743.htm

sciencedaily.com | Mar 26th 2013

Childhood and adolescent obesity rates in the United States have increased dramatically in the past three decades. Being obese puts individuals at greater risk for developing Type 2 diabetes, a disease in which individuals have too much sugar in their blood. Now, University of Missouri researchers found vitamin D supplements can help obese children and teens control their blood-sugar levels, which may help them stave off the disease.

"By increasing vitamin D intake alone, we got a response that was nearly as powerful as what we have seen using a prescription drug," said Catherine Peterson, an associate professor of nutrition and exercise physiology at MU. "We saw a decrease in insulin levels, which means better glucose control, despite no changes in body weight, dietary intake or physical activity."

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"The vitamin D dosage we gave to the obese adolescents in our study is not something I would recommend for everyone," Peterson said. "For clinicians, the main message from this research is to check the vitamin D status of their obese patients, because they're likely to have insufficient amounts. Adding vitamin D supplements to their diets may be an effective addition to treating obesity and its associated insulin resistance."

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"What makes vitamin D insufficiency different in obese individuals is that they process vitamin D about half as efficiently as normal-weight people," Peterson said. "The vitamin gets stored in their fat tissues, which keeps it from being processed. This means obese individuals need to take in about twice as much vitamin D as their lean peers to maintain sufficient levels of vitamin D."

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