Vitamin D Is Inversely Related to Obesity: Cross-Sectional Study in a Small Cohort of Serbian Adults

Abstract

Objective: Vitamin D (vitD) mediates numerous health conditions other than bone health and mineralization. Its role in cardiometabolic condition is still inconclusive.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in 87 apparently healthy Serbian adults. We assessed their dietary intake, anthropometric and biochemical parameters, blood pressure, and vitD status (as serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D, 25(OH)D). Unexpectedly, the status was significantly higher in January than in July. Therefore, we pooled the data from two time points, to enhance the statistical power for carrying out association analyses. We employed linear regression models to evaluate the associations between vitD status and the obesity biomarkers of serum lipids and blood pressure.

Results: Mean vitD intake of 3.85 ± 4.71 μg in the cohort was below recommended. Of the subjects in the pooled cohort, 60.58% were vitD deficient (with serum 25(OH)D below 50 nmol/L), with the majority of them being women who were overweight. VitD status tended to be inversely related to percent body fat and waist/height ratio in the crude regression model. After age and gender adjustment, the status was significantly related to waist circumference, waist/height ratio, and waist/hip ratio (β = –0.116, 95% confidence interval [CI]: –0.206, –0.025, β = –0.001, 95% CI: –0.001, 0.000, and β = –0.001, 95% CI: –0.001, 0.000, respectively). These associations remained only within women. Fully adjusted models supported the notion of vitD being independently associated with central adiposity, regardless of age, gender, and total obesity.

Conclusions: In apparently healthy adults with low vitD intake, vitD status was inversely associated with obesity parameters, pronouncedly in women. Our data support the need for development and implementation of public health policies on increasing vitD intake also as part of obesity management strategies.

Keywords:

• Vitamin D
• cardiometabolic
• cross-sectional study
• obesity
• gender

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Dr. Nevena Vidovic and Dr. Aleksandra Konic-Ristic for involvement in study design, sample collection, and biochemical assessments, and to Filip Stojanovic for technical assistance.

Additional information

Funding

The authors acknowledge financial support from the Ministry of Education and Science of Serbia, project no. 41030.