Vitamin D And Obesity: There Could Be Unintended Consequences, Studies Suggest

Statistics show that roughly one-in-five American adolescents are obese, with more than one third overweight, according to information in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Yet dosing obese teens with vitamin D shows relatively no benefit for their heart health or diabetes risk and could even hold unintended consequences of increasing fat-storing triglycerides and cholesterol, according to recent findings of Mayo Clinic studies on childhood obesity.

"After three months of having vitamin D boosted into the normal range with supplements, these teenagers showed no changes in body weight, body mass index, waistline, blood pressure or blood flow," Seema Kumar, M.D., a pediatric endocrinologist in the Mayo Clinic Children's Center, said in a news release. "We're not saying the links between vitamin D deficiency and chronic diseases don't exist for children--we just haven't found any yet."

While previous observational studies have linked information between vitamin D deficiency and a host of weight-related medical complications, including cardiovascular disease and insulin resistance, many caregivers often give too high a supplementation dose in an attempt to make up for lower levels or reverse some of the clinical complications associated with obesity.

"I have been surprised that we haven't found more health benefit," added Dr. Kumar. "We're not saying it's bad to take vitamin D supplements at reasonable doses, and we know most obese teens are vitamin D deficient. We're just saying the jury is still out on how useful it is for improving overall health in adolescents."

The study findings revealed that parents and/or providers oftentimes put more than 5-to1- times the recommended daily intake because some studies have shown a link between vitamin D in the blood and improved vascular function, says Dr. Kumar. As many overweight teens are at an increased risk of chronic health issues, researchers found that it was possible to ingest too much vitamin D--otherwise known as vitamin D toxicity or hypervitaminosis, resulting in nausea, vomiting, poor appetite and even kidney complications. 

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Pediatric Obesity.

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