Does Vitamin D Help with Weight Loss?

A new study by Shalamar Sibley MD and colleagues from the University of Minnesota is linking an increased intake of vitamin D with the possibility of improving weight loss.

This new research was just announced at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society. In this study, the researchers followed 38 obese women and men. It was an 11 week program in which the dieters reduced their daily diet by 750 calories. The researchers found that those with a higher original level of vitamin D lost more weight in the abdomen. In addition, they found that for every incremental increase in vitamin D, subjects lost almost an additional half pound while on their diets.

Dr. Sibley has been quoted in a press release as saying "Vitamin D deficiency is associated with obesity, but it is not clear if inadequate vitamin D causes obesity or the other way around". Dr. Sibley anticipates more clinical trials need to be done to see if vitamin D has a significant role in weight loss.

In my own practice I have not seen optimizing vitamin D levels to facilitate weight loss but now that this article has been published I will be watching for it and asking my patients more closely if they notice a difference with their weight loss efforts.

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