From Your Health Journal…..”A great article from Yahoo! News via MyHealthNewsDaily by Trevor Stokes entitled Obesity Is Linked To Vitamin D Deficiency. If it is not bad enough obesity can lead to heart disease, weak joints, low self esteem, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and other chronic health diseases, it can cause a deficiency in vitamin D, a nutrient that helps the body absorb calcium, which is essential for healthy bones. For every 10 % increase in body-mass index (BMI), a person can expect to have 4.2 percent drop in blood levels of vitamin D. BMI is a measurement that that an individuals height and weight information, which corresponds to a specific number on the BMI chart to see if a person’s weight falls within a healthy range. Previous research has examined whether boosting vitamin D levels by taking vitamin D supplements could help people lose weight by increasing the metabolism of fat cells or reducing inflammation that can lead to weight gain. Please visit the Yahoo! web site (link provided below) to read the complete article. I found it very interesting.”

From the article…..

Being obese can cause a deficiency in vitamin D, a nutrient that helps the body absorb calcium, which is essential for healthy bones, reports a new study. However, the flip side isn’t true: Boosting blood levels of vitamin D can’t help people lose the excess weight.

According to the researchers, for every 10 percent increase in body-mass index (BMI), a person can expect to have 4.2 percent drop in blood levels of vitamin D. BMI is a measure of body fat that’s based on height and weight.

The study is published today (Feb. 5) in the journal PLOS Medicine.

As many as three-fourths of Americans are deficient in vitamin D, according to a 2009 study published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine. And 35.7 percent are obese, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Using genetic information from more than 42,000 people collected across 21 studies, American and European epidemiologists tracked 12 BMI-related genes and four vitamin D-related genes in people of all weight classes. The researchers found that people with a genetic predisposition for being heavier tended to have genes related to lower levels of vitamin D. As a result, no matter how much vitamin D an obese person gets, their genes are likely going to cause them to have lower-than-optimal levels of vitamin D.

However, having the genes associated with lower levels of vitamin D formation and metabolism does not necessarily mean a person is destined to be obese.

The researchers verified their observation using another data set of genes from 46 studies that included nearly 124,000 people.

“Obese individuals need to be mindful they are likely to be vitamin D deficient,” said study author Elina Hyppönen, a reader of epidemiology and public health at the University College London Institute of Child Health. “If you lower your BMI or reduce your body fat, then your vitamin D status probably will get higher.”

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