A study has found that vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increased risk of obesity and abnormal skeletal development.
The investigation, which was carried out at the Hainan General Hospital in China, wanted to look into the impact of vitamin D on metabolic health, as well as how it impacts bone development in children.
Researchers found that school-aged children who were not sufficiently exposed to the vitamin were more prone to excessive weight gain.
It was also determined that there was a positive correlation between vitamin D3 deficiency and an individual’s BMI, meaning a child’s BMI is likely to be higher when they are strongly deficient.
Furthermore, children exhibiting vitamin D deficiency had a delayed bone age compared to the non-deficient group — suggesting that lacklustre vitamin D exposure in early life can affect a child’s skeletal development.
In vitamin D deficient study population, those that had a high BMI also experienced elevated cholesterol levels, potentially increasing their risk of heart disease in the future.
These findings suggest that vitamin D levels should be closely monitored in growing children — allowing supplements to be provided to those at because of their deficiency.
This could relieve some pressure from the healthcare system by mitigating metabolic health risks, which is currently struggling to deal with the ongoing global obesity epidemic.
“It can be inferred that insufficient vitamin D3 levels may contribute to the obesity of school-age children. Furthermore, this deficient exerts an impact on bone growth and development in these children. This can lead to reduced calcium levels and delayed bone maturation.”
“Therefore, when conducting clinical work, vitamin D screening should be a priority, as it can help us to easily control risk factors for obesity early on in a child’s life.”