Calcium and vitamin D for obesity: a review of randomized controlled trials

Abstract

Obesity often coexists with low calcium intake and vitamin D insufficiency. There is emerging evidence of a role for these nutrients in the regulation of body weight. However, it is unclear whether increasing intakes of calcium and/or vitamin D during energy restriction, is a better strategy for weight and fat loss. We searched the literature from 2000 to date for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on weight loss that had increased calcium or vitamin D per se, or in combination. Primary and secondary studies were included for this analysis. A total of 15 RCTs on calcium with or without vitamin D and seven on vitamin D alone met our criteria. Two studies reported that supplemental calcium significantly increased fat loss during caloric restriction by 1.8 and 2.2 kg, three found differences between 1 and 3.5 kg but were statistically nonsignificant, while nine trials were equivocal (±0.7 kg). The data on vitamin D supplementation during weight loss were too few to make firm conclusions. Current evidence from RCTs did not consistently support the contention that calcium and vitamin D accelerated weight or fat loss in obesity. There were studies that favoured the hypothesis but lacked the statistical power. There is a need for RCTs to examine the influence of vitamin D on body fat.

The association between daily calcium intake and sarcopenia in older, non-obese Korean adults: the fourth Korea national health and nutrition examination survey (KNHANES IV) 2009

“…In our study, calcium intake was negatively correlated with total body fat mass and positively correlated with appendicular skeletal mass. Previous studies have shown the significant role of serum 25(OH)D status and calcium intake in fat and muscle mass [21][22][23]. Recently, Kim et al reported an inverse association between serum 25(OH)D levels and sarcopenia.…”

Vitamin D and obesity: current perspectives and future directions

“…Many of these studies give cholecalciferol with or without calcium and show equivocal results. Furthermore, when calcium is given with cholecalciferol, the effects of the vitamin per se cannot be distinguished and the evidence from interventions where cholecalciferol is given alone is limited (51) . Overall, the data does not consistently support the role of vitamin D (with or without calcium) in weight or FM loss.…”

“…cells of the adipose tissue), which suggests that vitamin D does in fact play a role in modulating this active metabolic tissue (48,49) . Evidence suggests that 1,25(OH)D plays a central role in adipocyte metabolism via the inhibition of adipogenesis, independently of parathyroid hormone concentrations (50,51) ; with lower vitamin D stores potentially increasing the differentiation of pre-adipocytes to adipocytes (i.e. adipocyte growth) (51,52) .…”

“…Evidence suggests that 1,25(OH)D plays a central role in adipocyte metabolism via the inhibition of adipogenesis, independently of parathyroid hormone concentrations (50,51) ; with lower vitamin D stores potentially increasing the differentiation of pre-adipocytes to adipocytes (i.e. adipocyte growth) (51,52) . Indeed 25(OH)D has been negatively associated with adipocyte size, albeit only in women to date (53) and promising evidence from animal models also supports a protective role for vitamin D in the onset of diet-induced obesity by enhanced fatty acid oxidation (54) or increased adipose tissue apoptosis (55) .…”

The genomics of micronutrient requirements

“…Such recommendations serve as a basis for regulating national and/or regional nutrition policies, which considers average intake. However, no standard approach exists for deriving micronutrient recommendations (Sheffer and Lewis-Taylor 2008) (Ashwell et al 2008;Pijls et al 2009;Matthys et al 2010Matthys et al , 2011Van't Veer et al 2013).…”