Vitamin D deficiency, adiposity, and cardiometabolic risk in urban schoolchildren.

J Pediatr. 2011 Dec;159(6):945-50. Epub 2011 Jul 23.
Sacheck J, Goodman E, Chui K, Chomitz V, Must A, Economos C.
Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Boston, MA 02111, USA. jennifer.sacheck at tufts.edu

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between serum vitamin D levels and cardiometabolic risk factors independent of adiposity in urban schoolchildren.

STUDY DESIGN: We assessed the relationships among serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], adiposity measured by body mass index (BMI) z-score (BMIz), and 6 cardiometabolic risk factors (total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, interleukin-6, and C-reactive protein [CRP]) in a cross-sectional sample of 263 racially and ethnically diverse schoolchildren from the Boston area during late winter. Multivariate regression analyses adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and BMIz examined associations of 25(OH)D and cardiometabolic risk factors.

RESULTS: Overall,

• 74.6% of the children were vitamin D deficient [25(OH)D <50 nmol/L; mean, 41.8 ± 13.7 nmol/L];
• 45% were overweight or obese (20% and 25%, respectively; BMIz = 0.75 ± 1.1).

The 25(OH)D level was not associated with BMIz, but was positively associated with the cardiometabolic risk factor CRP (? = 0.03; P < .05). BMIz was associated with elevated triglycerides (? = 0.13), CRP (? = 0.58), and interleukin-6 (?= 0.14) and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (? = -0.09; all P < .01).

CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent during the late winter months in urban schoolchildren living in the northeastern United States.
This widespread deficiency may contribute to the lack of associations between 25(OH)D and both BMIz and cardiometabolic risk factors.
The association between 25(OH)D and CRP warrants further study.

PMID: 21784451
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See also Vitamin D Life

• Overview Deficiency of vitamin D
• Vitamin D insufficiency in UK youths – 37X more likely if dark skin – July 2011
• All items in Far From Equator 98 items as of Dec 2011
• Vitamin D less than 22 ng in Greece half of the year– May 2011
• 70 percent of Koreans in their twenties had less than 20ng of vitamin D – Dec 2010
• 90 percent of Canadian youth less than 30 ng vitamin D – Oct 2010
• Low D in developing countries – less than 5 ng in some children in China – Oct 2010
• Groups associated with less than 20 ng vitamin D – NHANES Jan 2011
• Half of Quebec kids had less than 20 ng of vitamin D – Milk and movement did not help – Mar 2011
• 42 percent of US adults less than 20 ng of vitamin D and 82 percent of blacks – Jan 2011
• 90 percent of Indian mothers and infants had less than 20 ng of vitamin D – May 2011