The combination of obesity and vitamin D deficiency may put people at an even greater risk of insulin resistance than either factor alone, a new study has revealed.
|Last Updated: Jul 18, 2012, 04:08 PM IST|Source: Bureau
Washington: The combination of obesity and vitamin D deficiency may put people at an even greater risk of insulin resistance than either factor alone, a new study has revealed.
Insulin resistance is a major risk factor for Type 2 diabetes, a condition that affects 25.6 million adults and is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States.
“Vitamin D insufficiency and obesity are individual risk factors for insulin resistance and diabetes,” said lead author Shaum Kabadi, a doctoral candidate in epidemiology at Drexel.
“Our results suggest that the combination of these two factors increases the odds of insulin resistance to an even greater degree than would have been expected based on their individual contributions,” Kabadi said.
In the study, obese individuals who had healthy levels of vitamin D had insulin resistance almost 20 times more often than the overall study population.
But in obese individuals whose serum vitamin D was low, insulin resistance was much higher: about 32 times more common than the average.
Senior author Dr. Longjian Liu, an associate professor in the School of Public Health, noted, “It’s not clear whether obesity itself causes a low vitamin D level or if it’s the other way around.”
Vitamin D is stored in adipose fat tissues, making it unavailable for the body to use; as a result, people who are overweight are already more likely to have low levels of serum vitamin D.
Vitamin D deficiency is associated with multiple health conditions including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases including stroke, depression, dementia and other conditions.
Kabadi, Liu and co-author Dr. Brian Lee, an assistant professor in the School of Public Health, analyzed data on serum vitamin D levels and indicators of insulin resistance and diabetes from 5,806 respondents to a major national health survey, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
This was the first study of the association between vitamin D and diabetes risk for obese patients using a large, nationally representative sample of adults.
The survey reported data from individuals at a single point in time and was therefore unable to determine whether there is a cause-and-effect relationship among vitamin D, obesity and insulin resistance.
Liu said that vitamin D supplements may be useful for people who are overweight or obese to help control diabetes, but he cautioned that too much vitamin D could cause side effects such as weakness and fatigue.
In addition, vitamin D deficiency is just one of many known risk factors associated with insulin resistance and diabetes.
“Therefore, to control diabetes, we need to have comprehensive prevention strategies. For example, physical activity may be the most cost-effective way to control weight and subsequently to control conditions including diabetes and heart disease,” Liu said.
The study was recently published online in the journal Diabetes Care.
ANI
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.
Cookies Setting
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device and the processing of information obtained via those cookies (including about your preferences, device and online activity) by us and our commercial partners to enhance site navigation, personalise ads, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. More information can be found in our Cookies and Privacy Policy. You can amend your cookie settings to reject non-essential cookies by clicking Cookie Settings below.
Manage Consent Preferences
Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work or you may not be able to login.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advert as well as help measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we may not know when you have visited our site, and may not be able to monitor its performance.