Vitamin D Linked to Successful Weight Loss with Dieting

Vitamin D levels in the body at the start of a low-calorie diet predict weight loss success, a new study presented at The Endocrine Society’s 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. found.

In this study, the authors attempted to determine whether baseline vitamin D levels before calorie restriction affect subsequent weight loss.

They measured circulating blood levels of vitamin D in 38 overweight men and women before and after the subjects followed a diet plan for 11 weeks consisting of 750 calories a day fewer than their estimated total needs. Subjects also had their fat distribution measured with DXA (bone densitometry) scans.

On average, subjects had vitamin D levels that many experts would consider to be in the insufficient range, according to Sibley. However, the authors found that baseline, or pre-diet, vitamin D levels predicted weight loss in a linear relationship.

For every increase of 1 ng/mL in level of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (the precursor form of vitamin D and a commonly used indicator of vitamin D status) subjects ended up losing almost a half pound (0.196 kg) more on their calorie-restricted diet. For each 1-ng/mL increase in the active or “hormonal” form of vitamin D (1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol), subjects lost nearly one-quarter pound (0.107 kg) more.

Additionally, higher baseline vitamin D levels (both the precursor and active forms) predicted greater loss of abdominal fat.

“Our results suggest the possibility that the addition of vitamin D to a reduced-calorie diet will lead to better weight loss,” said the study’s lead author, Shalamar Sibley, MD, from the University of Minnesota.

Sibley and her co-workers said that previous studies had reported an association between vitamin D deficiency and obesity, but

“it is not clear if inadequate vitamin D causes obesity or the other way around”, she said.  Sibley added a note of caution, saying that more research is needed.

“Our findings need to be followed up by the right kind of controlled clinical trial to determine if there is a role for vitamin D supplementation in helping people lose weight when they attempt to cut back on what they eat.”

With obesity rates still high – in developed countries and increasingly in newly wealthy emerging markets there is considerable attention to ways to trim down waistlines.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the University of Minnesota, and the Pennock Family Endowment at the University of Minnesota.

Source:  The Endocrine Society

The Details on D

I cannot think of a single person or animal that cannot benefit from the enormous values that Vitamin D-3 can deliver to the body. This study adds to the tidal-wave of research that shows Vitamin D to be the true “miracle vitamin” to treat a host of disease conditions from osteopenia and osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, muscle weakness and fractures, cancer, diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s.

Our bodies manufacture vitamin D through exposure to sunshine.  I think the medical community’s message for years to “stay out of the sun” is partly the cause of low vitamin D levels.  The sun is pure, life giving energy.  Just like plants need sun and water to grow, so do we.  I recommend getting your sunshine early in the morning.  Stand in front of a window and disrobe, bathing your body in the pure energy of the sun. Close your eyes and slowly swing left and right. If you are concerned about the neighbors seeing you, stand back a little from the window.

In the winter and especially in the northern regions, we hardly make any vitamin D at all (and thus Why Heart Attacks Spike in Winter), meaning that supplementation is the only way to boost your vitamin D.

I’ve written a host of articles on the benefits of Vitamin D, like the one above.  Click here to read them.

No matter who you are, no matter how old you are, no matter if you are healthy or fighting disease in some form, this is simply the most important vitamin you can take. Get yourself a bottle of D and take it everyday. At under $14/bottle, it’s the best insurance you can have.

Go D!

3 Replies to “Vitamin D Linked to Successful Weight Loss with Dieting”

  1. Dear Dr. Garland,
    I am so glad you are sending out this important information on Vitamin D. People need to know the level can be measured in the body when they have a regular panel blood test and they should ask their doctors to do this. Mine does. Here in AZ. we get plenty of sun, but skin cancer is a concern. With family history of heart and bone disorders, I would not miss my dose! Many thanks to you for your care!!!

  2. Thanks Ana and Bobbie for your comments.

    Every day that goes by, I come across yet another staggering fact about daily Vitamin D supplementation.

    While the sun does generate Vitamin D production in the body, you are correct Bobbie that severe sunshine such as Arizona where you are can cause skin cancer.

    The rule that good naturopaths follow is no more than 15 minutes of sunshine on the naked body before 11am, no later because the sun is then at full strength and most damaging.

    I will have some even more staggering news about Vitamin D-3 when we officially launch our new MIRACLE OF LIFE formula in a few days’ time.

    Kindest regards.

    DR G.

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