Contributions of food intake to serum 25 OH vitamin D levels in healthy African American and Caucasian Los Angelinos

Abstract

To determine the impact of diet on circulating levels of vitamin D we studied healthy, weight constant African Americans and Caucasians in Los Angeles. We examined the relative contributions of dietary intakes from fish, dairy and multivitamin supplements from 6 24‐hour recalls. Distinct racial differences were noted, with a median of 21.2 ng/ml for African Americans, and 34.4 for Caucasians. Multiple linear regression models, adjusted for age and gender were run to examine the relationship between serum vitamin D levels and dietary consumption of vitamin D‐rich foods. Across the total population, dairy consumption was strongly related to 25 OH vitamin D levels, with the contributions from full fat and non‐fat milk demonstrating statistically significant regression coefficients of 1.45 and 1.78, respectively. The elevation in vitamin D seen per 100 g full fat milk consumption was also almost twice as great among the African American subjects (2.0 vs 1.1 ng/ml elevation per 100 g). Fish consumption was not significantly related to circulating levels in this population. Use of a multivitamin had almost twice the impact among the African Americans (11.6 vs 6.3 ng/ml elevation per tablet). The lack of association with fish and the differential effects of diet in African Americans deserves further attention. Supported by NIH R01CA105048.