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According to scientists, taking vitamin D could help overweight and obese children lose weight.
Vitamin D is most often associated with the development and maintenance of strong bones because the body needs it to absorb calcium. But recent research shows that vitamin D deficiency could also be a factor of obesity.
The World Health Organization describes childhood obesity as one of the most serious public health problems of the 21st century, with about 41 million children under five years old. Obesity exposes children to an increased risk of developing preventable diseases such as heart disease and diabetes at an earlier age and to suffer from poor health later in life.
Read more: Household cleaning products could make your children fatter
In what is considered the first study on the links between vitamin D supplementation and the weight and health of obese children and adolescents, researchers from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Athens and
The team measured vitamin D levels, body fat percentage of participants, as well as their markers of liver and heart function at the beginning of the study, and then 12 months later.
The researchers randomly assigned 117 children with supplements containing 50,000 IU vitamin D for six weeks, while the others acted as a control group.
Children who took vitamin D had a significantly lower BMI, the researchers found. They also had lower body fat, as well as healthier cholesterol levels.
Dr. Evangelia, associate professor of pediatric and adolescent endocrinology at the Faculty of Medicine of the National University and Kapodistrian of Athens and lead author of the study, said: "These results suggest that a simple supplementation with vitamin D could reduce the risk of developing serious cardiac and metabolic complications later in life.
The results should be presented at the 57th annual meeting of the European Society of Pediatric Endocrinology and have therefore not yet been reviewed.
At their next survey, the team will investigate whether vitamin D supplements can improve the health of obese children and adolescents in whom obesity-related disorders have been diagnosed, such as a rate high cholesterol, high blood sugar and hypertension.
"Although these early results indicate that vitamin D could be used in the treatment of obesity, there is evidence on the safety and long-term effects of supplementation, particularly in the absence of vitamin D deficiency. ". If your child is overweight or obese, I recommend that you consult your doctor for advice and consider testing your vitamin D level. "
Professor Mary Fewtrell, assistant health promotion assistant at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in the UK, said: Newsweek"Although the effect sizes are not given, these results are certainly positive, it is encouraging that a simple intervention can have these effects and this deserves further investigation to consider its potential impacts on the Vitamin D supplementation in obese children. "
Earlier this year, Dutch researchers published a study indicating that higher levels of abdominal fat were linked to a decrease in vitamin D levels.
According to the results presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Endocrinology in Barcelona, people with higher levels of body and abdominal fat seemed to have lower levels of vitamin D.
Rachida Rafiq, the main author of the study said Newsweek At the time, "our results are significant because vitamin D deficiency and obesity are very common problems in our society today," she told Newsweek.
"Future studies should explore what are the underlying mechanisms that explain this specific relationship between vitamin D and visceral adipose tissue."
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