Too Little Vitamin D May Add to Obesity’s Burden

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, April 15, 2014 (HealthDay News) — Severely obese people with vitamin D deficiency may be less mobile than those with normal levels of the vitamin, a new study says.
Poor physical functioning can reduce quality of life and increase the risk of early death, the researchers noted.
The study included 252 severely obese people who were timed as they walked 1,640 feet and climbed up and down a single step 50 times. The participants also gave blood samples and estimates of their levels of physical activity.
Those with the lowest vitamin D levels had the slowest walking times and the lowest amounts of physical activity, according to the study published April 15 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
“People with severe obesity already are eight times more likely to have poor physical function than people with a healthy [body weight],” study co-author Tomas Ahern, of St. Columcille’s Hospital and St. Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin, Ireland, said in a journal news release.
“Poor vitamin D status contributes to the deterioration of physical function in this population. Among those with severe obesity, 43 percent are at risk of vitamin D deficiency,” he added.
About 6.5 percent of American adults are severely obese, the study authors noted in the news release.
While the study doesn’t prove that lower levels of vitamin D curtail mobility, it does suggest a link might exist between the two.
Improving vitamin D status could be a simple matter of spending more time outside, because sun exposure can boost the body’s natural vitamin D production, Ahern said.
More information
The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about vitamin D.
Copyright © 2014 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Our Solution
Why is vitamin D important and what AdvoCare® products contain vitamin D?
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble pro-hormone that exhibits numerous effects in the body and does far more than promote healthy bones and teeth. It exists in two major forms called vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) and vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). Vitamin D3 is produced in skin following exposure to sunlight, specifically ultraviolet B radiation. Vitamin D is converted into 25-hydroxy-vitamin D which is the primary circulating form in our bodies. This form is then converted into the active form of the vitamin, namely 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D by the kidneys.
You will find these products and more at www.getphysicallyfit.org