Levels of vitamin D—the sunshine vitamin—in the body at the beginning of a weight loss diet spell success or failure, according to a new study by the University of Minnesota. “Our results suggest the possibility that the addition of vitamin D to a reduced-calorie diet will lead to better weight loss,” said Shalamar Sibley, MD, MPH, the study’s lead author.
The study aimed to discover whether baseline vitamin D levels prior to beginning a diet affect weight loss. The researchers measured vitamin D blood levels in 38 overweight women and men at the beginning and also at the end of an 11-week diet which used as its basis a diet that was 750 calories lower than each subject’s total needs.
On average, subjects in the study had vitamin D levels which many experts would consider insufficient. “Vitamin D deficiency is associated with obesity, but it is not clear if inadequate vitamin D causes obesity or the other way around,” Sibley said.
The study showed that pre-diet vitamin D levels did in fact predict weight loss, and did so in direct proportion to pre-diet levels. For every increase of 1 ng/mL in the level of the precursor form of vitamin D, subjects lost almost a half pound more. For every increase of 1-ng/mL in the active form of vitamin D, they lost almost one-quarter pound more. Higher levels of both forms also predicted greater loss of abdominal fat.
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