OBESITY

dushazmi

Lack of sunlight could be key to obesity epidemic
Is a lack of sunlight one cause of the
obesity epidemic among children? It’s
certainly a possibility, after vitamin
D supplements helped a group of
overweight and obese adolescents lose
a substantial amount of weight after
one year.
Our bodies hold onto fat stores when
we’re deficient in vitamin D, which we
mainly get from sunlight, especially
during the summer months.
Countering this deficiency seems to
give the signal to the body to release
stores of fat, as researchers from the
University of Athens Medical School
discovered when they gave supplements
to a group of obese and overweight
children and adolescents.
Around half the children were given
vitamin D supplements—which they
took every day for a year—and the rest
were instead given a placebo, or a
fake supplement.
By the end of the year, the
supplement group had lost significant
amounts of body fat, their body mass
index (BMI, a marker of obesity) had
dropped, and their cholesterol levels
had also improved.
Parents should ask to have the vitamin
D levels of their overweight children
checked, the researchers say.