Vitamin D Nutritional Status and Its Relationship with Metabolic Changes in Adolescents and Adults with Severe Obesity

Introduction: increased vitamin D deficiency occurs together with obesity and the association between these conditions has been observed.

Objective: to assess the nutritional status of vitamin D and metabolic profile in adolescents and adults with obesity, and the relationship between complications arising from severe class of obesity with vitamin D nutritional status, and to compare the differences between these groups.

Methods: observational comparative study. Population comprises adolescents and adults with severe obesity. Waist circumference (WC) and body mass index (BMI) were measured. Analysis of vitamin D (25(OH)D), lipid profile, C-reactive protein (CRP), blood glucose, fasting insulinemia, insulin sensitivity, blood pressure and diagnoses of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and metabolic syndrome (MS) were performed.

Results: a total of 60 adolescents (G1) and 68 adults (G2) were evaluated. The percentage of vitamin D inadequacy was observed in 90% in G1 and 79.4% in G2. There was a negative and significant correlation of BMI with the values of 25(OH)D in the group of adults (r = -0.244; p = 0.045). Individuals with inadequacy of vitamin D showed higher values of CRP in both groups (p = 0.000). HOMA-IR showed a negative correlation with 25(OH)D in G1 (r = -0.832; p = 0.000) and G2 (r = -0.589; p = 0.000). The inadequacy of this vitamin showed association with high total cholesterol in G1 (p = 0.029) and higher values of LDL-c in G2 (p = 0.003).

Conclusion: high prevalence of deficiency and insufficiency of vitamin D were observed, associated with metabolic changes both in obese adults and adolescents. It is necessary to develop strategies for the prevention and control of obesity and vitamin D deficiency.