Vitamin D Deficiency Might Precede Increases in Body-Mass Index

Cross-sectional studies indicate that serum vitamin D levels and body-mass index (BMI) are inversely correlated, but cross-sectional data cannot be used to determine whether vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for adiposity. Investigators prospectively examined the association between vitamin D status and annual changes in anthropometric measures in 479 randomly selected low- and middle-income children (age range, 5–12; 52% female) in Bogotá, Columbia, who were enrolled in a longitudinal study of nutrition and health. Children were followed for a mean of 29 months.

In multivariate analysis that controlled for baseline measurements, vitamin D deficiency (serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D]) <50 nmol/L) was associated with 0.1 kg/m²/year gre…