British scientists have conducted studies, the results of which have added to the list of dangerous consequences that obesity can lead to. As it turned out, excess body fat leads to a deficiency in the body of a very important vitamin — vitamin D.
It has long been known that vitamin D plays an important role in ensuring the normal functioning of most systems of the human body. If it lacks this vitamin, it can cause rickets in children, and, according to new data, aggravate depression, cancer, diabetes and other serious diseases..
Scientists have noticed the connection between vitamin D deficiency and obesity for a long time. At the same time, until recently it was not clear which of these variables is the cause and which is the effect. It is not known whether excess fat leads to a deficiency of vitamin D or, conversely, a lack of vitamin D leads to the development of cancer.
The researchers of the University College London’s Institute of Child Health decided to find out this relationship. To do this, they thoroughly analyzed the data of medical records of 165 thousand Britons. As a result, the following relationship was revealed: with an increase in body weight (BMI) above the norm by every 10%, there is a decrease in the concentration of vitamin D in the tissues and blood of the body by 4%.
This discovery lifts the curtain of what has been happening recently in different countries. The fact is that in many developed countries, including America, most of the population tries to eat balanced, but over the past few decades there has been a significant increase in the number of people suffering from low levels of vitamin D in the body with a bias towards a pronounced deficiency. For example, in the United States, about a third of the population is deficient in this vitamin..
Today this phenomenon (a significant increase in the number of people who are obese) can be explained simply — accumulating in adipose tissues, vitamin D, with their excess amount, simply cannot penetrate into tissues and blood, therefore it remains intact and unclaimed.
Professor Elina Hypponen, head of this study, notes that based on the results obtained, one can safely insist that vitamin D is closely related to the mass of adipose tissue in the human body, and not only to a lack of sunlight according to many researchers.
