Will Vitamin D Help You Lose Weight?

Vitamin D

As a regular reader, you may well be aware of the discussions regarding a potential role of calcium and vitamin D in promoting weight loss.

Now, this issue was examined by Mason and colleagues in a 12 month randomised controlled trial, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study involved 218 overweight/obese women (50-75 y of age) with moderate vitamin D deficiency (serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] ≥10 ng/mL but

The weight-loss intervention included a reduced-calorie diet (10% weight loss goal) and 225 min/wk of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic activity.

A total of 86% of participants completed the 12-mo measurements losing on average about 7 Kg, with no significant differences between the two groups.

There were also no significant differences in the reduction in BMI, waist circumference, percentage body fat, trunk fat, insulin or CRP levels.

At best, there was a slight trend towards greater benefits in women, who became replete with vitamin D supplementation compared to those who did not.

Thus, in summary, simply adding vitamin D to a weight loss regimen does little (if anything) to aid weight loss.

This is not to say that vitamin D supplementation in people with vitamin D deficiency may not be a good thing – it just does not appear to have much effect on body weight.

@DrSharma
Halifax, NS

Mason C, Xiao L, Imayama I, Duggan C, Wang CY, Korde L, & McTiernan A (2014). Vitamin D3 supplementation during weight loss: a double-blind randomized controlled trial. The American journal of clinical nutrition PMID: 24622804

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