Abstract:
Vitamin D insufficiency is linked with obesity which leads to many health problems
including Type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases,
hypertension, and cancer. However, there are no studies examining the relationship
between vitamin D and body fat among Sri Lankans. The objective of this study was
to determine the association between Body Mass Index (BM!), Total Body Fat mass
(TBF), Truncal Fat mass (TRF) with serum vitamin D (VD) in a group of community
dwellers. A group of 32 age-matched men was selected as community controls of an
ongoing study and were included in the analysis after obtaining informed written
consent. Height and weight were measured following standard protocols and BM!
was calculated. TBF, Total Body Fat percentage (TBFP) and TRF were measured
using Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) scan. VD concentration was
estimated by ELISA technique. Mean (SD) age of the group was 49 (8) years, with a
mean (SD) height of 1.64(0.08) m and a weight of 62.3(12.7) kg. Mean VD
concentration was 28.9 ng/mL. Serum vitamin D concentration showed a significant
negative correlations with the total body weight (r = -0.41, p = 0.017), BM! (r = -0.40,
p = 0.018), TBF (r = -0.48, p = 0.004), TBFP (r =-0.46, p = 0.006) and TRF (r =-0.44, p
= 0.009) respectively. Stepwise regression analysis revealed that TBF has the strongest association with serum VD. As confirmed in previous studies, the results
indicated that people with high TBF were likely to have insufficient levels of vitamin
D. It is interesting to find out whether interventions aiming to reduce body fat
content reverse this association.
