Next month, January 2012, a prestigious medical journal will publish a study concluding low vitamin D levels are significantly more common in obese children and that these low levels increases their risk for type 2 diabetes.
This study will be published in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).
Previous research has shown that low vitamin D levels are associated with cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in adults. That children, especially obese children, are affected should not be a surprise.
“Although our study cannot prove causation, it does suggest that low vitamin D levels may play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes,” said Dr. Micah Olson, of The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, primary investigator of the study.
More research will confirm the clinical significance of low levels of vitamin D, and whether treatment can improve the risk. And if so, what kind of treatment and how much. More sun? More vitamins? How much and how often?
As is the case with any therapies that fall outside the realm of traditional medicine, customary research protocols, and the cash flow associated with pharmaceutics, it the use of vitamin D is hotly debated.
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) has it’s sights on vitamin D. In the meantime, existing research shows that vitamin D is crucial to emotional and physical well being.
Reference: “Vitamin D Deficiency in Obese Children and Its Relationship to Glucose Homeostasis,” appears in the January 2012 issue of JCEM.
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