Vitamin D3 and the risk of CVD in overweight and obese women: a randomised controlled trial.

Br J Nutr. 2012 Feb 9:1-8.
Salehpour A, Shidfar F, Hosseinpanah F, Vafa M, Razaghi M, Hoshiarrad A, Gohari M.
Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, No. 52, Alvand Street, Arjantin Square, Tehran, Iran.

Evidence indicates that vitamin D deficiency contributes to CVD. We investigated the effect of vitamin D3 supplementation on cardiovascular risk factors in women.
Healthy premenopausal overweight and obese women (n 77; mean age 38 (sd 8·1) years) were randomly allocated to the vitamin D (25 ?g/d as cholecalciferol) or the placebo group in a double-blind manner for 12 weeks.
Blood pressure, serum lipoproteins, apolipoproteins and anthropometric parameters were recorded. Dietary intake was recorded using 24 h food recall and FFQ.
Physical activity was assessed by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire.
Mean total cholesterol concentrations increased in the vitamin D group (0·08 (sd 0·56) mmol/l) but declined in the placebo group (0·47 (sd 0·58) mmol/l), and a significant effect was observed (P ? 0·001).
In the vitamin D group, mean HDL-cholesterol concentration increased, whereas it decreased in the placebo group (0·07 (sd 0·2) v. - 0·03 (sd 0·2) mmol/l; P = 0·037).
Mean apoA-I concentration increased in the vitamin D group, although it decreased in the placebo group (0·04 (sd 0·39) v. - 0·25 (sd 0·2) g/l; P ? 0·001).
Mean LDL-cholesterol:apoB-100 ratio augmented in the vitamin D group, while this ratio declined in the placebo group (0·11 (sd 0·6) v. - 0·19 (sd 0·3); P = 0·014).
Body fat mass was significantly decreased in the vitamin D group more than the placebo group ( - 2·7 (sd 2) v. - 0·4 (sd 2) kg; P ? 0·001).
The findings showed that supplementation with vitamin D3 can significantly improve HDL-cholesterol, apoA-I concentrations and LDL-cholesterol:apoB-100 ratio, which remained significant in the multivariate model including anthropometric, dietary and physical activity measures.

PMID: 22317756
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Notes

This study recorded activity level but did not report activity in the abstract.
People in Iran have extremely low levels of vitamin D
- much more than 1,000 IU will probably be needed by those who do not have such extremely low levels

See also Vitamin D Life

• All items in Obesity and vitamin D 352 items
• [http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results
• Obesity pandemic since 1975 - is it due to Vitamin D, Magnesium, Iodine, adenovirus, or what
• Obesity (BMI and waist circumference) associated with low vitamin D – Feb 2012
• Vitamin D is sometimes a diet pill Blog post of this topic
• Weight reduction review – Vitamin D and Calcium may help – July 2011
  Which has the following chart - no indication of how much vitamin D

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• Overview Obesity and Vitamin D has scores of references to vitamin D and Calcium for weight loss and had the following summary March 2012

- FACT: People who are obese have less vitamin D in their blood
- FACT: People who are obese need a higher dose of vitamin D to get to the same level of vitamin D in their blood
- FACT: When obese people lose weight the vitamin D level in their blood increases
- FACT: Adding Calcium, perhaps in the form of fortified milk, often reduces weight
- OBSERVATION: About 30% of obese quickly lose weight when they take >2000 IU of vitamin D and 750 mg Calcium
   Women lose weight, men have not been tested
- SUGGESTION: Probably need much more than 2,000 IU to lose weight if very low on vitamin D (high risk) due to
  risk factors such as age, dark skin, very overweight, live far from equator, etc.

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Comment on the study by Vitamin D Council

(Vitamin D Life summary Vitamin D==> reduce pain ==> get up and about ==>reduce weight)

One of the most replicated findings in vitamin D research is that the higher your vitamin D, the less you weigh; the lower your vitamin D, the more you weigh.
Conventional wisdom says that fat-soluble vitamins, like D, dissolve themselves in fat and disappear from the blood.

Another explanation is even simpler: if you dissolve a teaspoon of sugar in a glass of water, it will be sweeter than if you dissolve it in a quart of water.
That is, anything (vitamin D) dissolved in a limited mass (fat) will be more concentrated.

Body weight and vitamin D blood levels

In just 12 weeks, the vitamin D group had lost five more pounds than the control group.
They also found improved scores in lipoprotein/cholesterol ratios for better heart health in the vitamin D group verses the placebo.

But what about the possibility of vitamin D playing a causative role, not just an associative role, in obesity and body mass?
__That is, to a limited extent, does vitamin D act like a diet pill?
__ Last week, Dr. Selehpour of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences found some interesting results in her randomized controlled trial.

In this RCT of 77 overweight women, they gave half a small dose of vitamin D (1,000 IU/day), and half a placebo.
In just 12 weeks, the vitamin D group had lost five more pounds than the control group.
They also found improved scores in lipoprotein/cholesterol ratios for better heart health in the vitamin D group verses the placebo.
Which brings some readers to a question: “If I want to diet, how much vitamin D should I take?”

First, 5,000 IU/day is for otherwise healthy adults weighing average adult weight (125-200 pounds). If you’re above this weight, however, 32 IU per pound per day is a good rule of thumb (as reported in the “Body weight and vitamin D blood levels” blog above. This means that a 300lb person would need 10,000 IU/day, though it wouldn’t surprise me if they needed more. Only way to know is to test blood levels. As your weight decreases, it is important to reduce your dose.

I doubt vitamin D is a classic diet pill.
It may work by increasing your activity as your “get up and go” is back.
Just lying on the sofa popping vitamin D pills will get you nowhere, however.
Follow that urge to take the walk, clean out the garage, and take that weekend trip.