Vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for obesity and diabetes type 2 in women at late reproductive age

Grineva En,Micheeva E,Belyaeva O,Belyaeva Il,Karonova T

doi:10.18632/aging.100582

Abstract

It was suggested that glucose metabolism and body fat content depend on serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D]. We studied 320 healthy women at late reproductive age of 40 to 52 years old (mean age 46.1±4.5) from St. Petersburg (North-West region of Russia). 25(ОН)D levels were from 19.4 to 134.0 nMol/L (mean 52.9±22.7). Vitamin D deficiency (lower than 50 nMol/L) and insufficiency (50-75 nMol/L) was revealed in 59.1% and 27.8% of women, respectively. The study showed that low 25(OH)D levels were associated with obesity (r=-0.35, p$#X003C0.01), increased plasma glucose levels after OGTT (r=-0.31, p$#X003C0.01) and decreased insulin sensitivity index (r=-0.28, p$#X003C0.01). We found that 25(OH)D levels below 50 nMol/L were associated with obesity risk (OR 2.25[1.05-3.95], CI 95%) but not with risk of impaired glucose metabolism (1.07[0.54-2.12],CI95%). Our results showed that vitamin D insufficiency is highly prevalent in the population of healthy women. Low 25(OH)D levels correlated with high body fat, glucose levels and decreased insulin sensitivity. We conclude that vitamin D deficiency is a potential risk factor for obesity and development of insulin resistance leading to diabetes type 2.

Highlights

Introduction1 billion people worldwide suffer from vitamin D deficiency [1,2,3,4], which may result from limited exposure to sunlight, long-term wearing of covering clothes, use of sunscreen, age as well as low consumption of food containing ergocalciferol, and malabsorption syndrome [5,6]
We found that 25(OH)D levels below 50 nMol/L were associated with obesity risk but not with risk of impaired glucose metabolism (1.07[0.54‐2.12],CI95%)
1 billion people worldwide suffer from vitamin D deficiency [1,2,3,4], which may result from limited exposure to sunlight, long-term wearing of covering clothes, use of sunscreen, age as well as low consumption of food containing ergocalciferol, and malabsorption syndrome [5,6]

Summary

Introduction

1 billion people worldwide suffer from vitamin D deficiency [1,2,3,4], which may result from limited exposure to sunlight, long-term wearing of covering clothes, use of sunscreen, age as well as low consumption of food containing ergocalciferol, and malabsorption syndrome [5,6]. There may be a connection between vitamin D levels and cardiometabolic diseases: obesity; impaired glucose tolerance and diabetes mellitus type 2; arterial hypertension; and atherogenic dyslipidemia. The mechanisms are still unclear, vitamin D deficiency is associated with a greater risk of these pathological conditions [4,6,10,11,12,13,14]. Vitamin D receptors found in pancreatic ß-cells launched studies on the possible effects of calcitriol on regulation of insulin production [14,15]. While assessing carbohydrate metabolism, it was determined that the lack of vitamin D may cause a greater level of glycemia and a higher risk of diabetes mellitus type 2 [2,4,5,14,15,22,24].

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