Deficiency in vitamin D can lead to obesity: Study

Many studies have shown the benefits of Vitamin D in mitigating the severity of the coronavirus. Researchers have yet again vouched for Vitamin D for the metabolic balance between growth and fat accumulation.

According to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers explored the link between vitamin D and metabolic homeostasis, or equilibrium, using the zebrafish model.

Study author Seth Kullman from North Carolina State University in the US said in a statement: “The vitamin D deficient zebrafish exhibited both hypertrophy and hyperplasia – an increase in both the size and number of fat cells.”

“They also had higher triglycerides and cholesterol, which are hallmarks of metabolic imbalance that can lead to cardio-metabolic disease,” Kullman added.

The research indicated that vitamin D plays a vital role by using its ability to channel energy into growth and not fat storage.

For the study, the researchers monitored cohorts of post-juvenile zebrafish on one of three diets: no vitamin D (or vitamin D null), vitamin D enriched, and control.

The zebrafish were given a particular diet for four months. The researchers then looked at their growth, bone density, triglycerides, lipid, cholesterol, and vitamin D levels.

The team also tested important metabolic pathways associated with fat production, storage, and mobilization and growth promotion.

The zebrafish in the vitamin D deficient group was, on average, 50 per cent smaller than those in the other two groups, and they had significantly more fat reserves.

The researchers then gave the vitamin D to the deficient zebrafish for an additional six months, to see if the results could be reversed.

While the fish did continue to grow and begin to utilize fat reserves, they never caught up in size with the other cohorts and they retained residual fat deposits.

“This work shows that vitamin D deficiency can influence metabolic health by disrupting the normal balance between growth and fat accumulation,” Kullman said.

“Somehow the energy that should be going toward growth is getting shunted into creating fat and lipids, and this occurrence cannot be easily reversed,” Kullman added.

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