Low 25(OH)D3 levels are associated with total adiposity, metabolic syndrome, and hypertension in Caucasian children and adolescents

Abstract

Objectives: Evidence of the association between vitamin D and cardiovascular risk factors in the young is limited. We therefore assessed the relationships between circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D 3 (25(OH)D 3 ) and metabolic syndrome (MetS), its components, and early atherosclerotic changes in 452 (304 overweight/obese and 148 healthy, normal weight) Caucasian children. Methods: We determined serum 25(OH)D 3 concentrations in relation to MetS, its components (central obesity, hypertension, low high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol, hypertriglyceridemia, glucose impairment, and/or insulin resistance (IR)), and impairment of flow-mediated vasodilatation (FMD) and increased carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) -two markers of subclinical atherosclerosis. Results: Higher 25(OH)D 3 was significantly associated with a reduced presence of MetS. Obesity, central obesity, hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL-cholesterol, IR, and MetS were all associated with increased odds of having low 25(OH)D 3 levels, after adjustment for age, sex, and Tanner stage. After additional adjustment for SDS-body mass index, elevated blood pressure (BP) and MetS remained significantly associated with low vitamin D status. The adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for those in the lowest (!17 ng/ml) compared with the highest tertile (O27 ng/ml) of 25(OH)D 3 for hypertension was 1.72 (1.02-2.92), and for MetS, it was 2.30 (1.20-4.40). A similar pattern of association between 25(OH)D 3 , high BP, and MetS was observed when models were adjusted for waist circumference. No correlation was found between 25(OH)D 3 concentrations and either FMD or cIMT. Conclusions: Low 25(OH)D 3 levels in Caucasian children are inversely related to total adiposity, MetS, and hypertension.

Vitamin D Intake and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Adolescents

“…44 Similarly, a study in Caucasian children also found that central obesity, hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL-C levels, and metabolic syndrome were associated with low 25(OH)D levels. 45 Despite the fact that in our study vitamin D was assessed only by nutritional intake, our results are in line with those of these investigations by showing that adolescents in the lowest vitamin D intake quartile group had an OR of 3.35 for high cardiometabolic risk score compared with the highest vitamin D intake quartile group after adjustment for several confounders. Nevertheless, the association between vitamin D intake and cardiometabolic risk is only significant for the lowest quartile.…”

Inverse relationship between vitamin D status and insulin resistance and the risk of impaired fasting glucose in Korean children and adolescents: the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2009–2010

“…The potential effects of VitD on glucose homeostasis are considered to be mediated by autocrine and paracrine functions involving the transcriptional regulation of genes in pancreatic b-cells, skeletal myocytes and immune cells, improving insulin secretion and sensitivity and reducing inflammation (13,16) . Despite theoretical links between VitD and insulin sensitivity and/or secretion, controversy remains regarding the relationship between 25(OH)D levels and surrogate indices of insulin sensitivity (4)(5)(6)(7)25,26) or b-cell function (7,25,26) and the risk of glucose intolerance or T2DM (6,9,27) . These discrepancies in the relationships between VitD status and outcomes related to glucose homeostasis in paediatric or adult populations may be attributable to differences in study sample size, participant characteristics (race, ethnicity and degree of obesity), method of measuring insulin sensitivity and/or b-cell function, and the adjusted markers of adiposity used.…”

Association of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D with insulin resistance and β-cell function in a healthy Chinese female population

“…In adults, low 25-hydroxyvitamin [25(OH)D] concentration have been found to be associated with higher risk of hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes [5] . In children, limited vitamin D data show an association with fasting hyperglycemia and insulin resistance [6,7] . Animal data show impaired insulin secretion during vitamin D deficiency [8] and an improvement in insulin secretion with vitamin D supplementation [9,10] .…”