Higher visceral fat area increases the risk of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency in Chinese adults

Meilin Zhang; Ping Li; Yufeng Zhu; Hong Chang; Xuan Wang; Weiqiao Liu; Yuwen Zhang; Guowei Huang

doi:10.1186/s12986-015-0046-x

Higher visceral fat area increases the risk of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency in Chinese adults

Nutr Metab (Lond). 2015 Nov 25:12:50. doi: 10.1186/s12986-015-0046-x. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Meilin Zhang¹, Ping Li¹, Yufeng Zhu¹, Hong Chang², Xuan Wang¹, Weiqiao Liu³, Yuwen Zhang³, Guowei Huang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nutrition and Food Science, School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300070 China.
² Department of Nutrition and Food Science, School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300070 China ; Department of Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300070 China.
³ Health Education and Guidance Center of Heping District, Tianjin, 300040 China.

Abstract

Background: Visceral fat area (VFA), a novel sex-specific index for visceral fat obesity (VFO) might play a major role in the development of vitamin D deficiency. However, the association between VFA and vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency in Chinese population is less clear. The aim of this study was to explore the population-level association between VFA and vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency among Chinese men and women.

Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 1105 adults aged 20-70 years living in Tianjin who were randomly selected and medically examined. All subjects underwent the bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) method to estimate the VFA. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH) D3) level was assayed by the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method and defined insufficiency and deficiency following recommended cutoffs. The association between VFA and vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency was estimated using binary regression analysis.

Results: The total prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency (25(OH) D3: 20-29 μg/L) and deficiency (25(OH) D3 < 20 μg/L) were 26.60 % and 24.89 %, respectively. Significant negative association was observed for VFA with serum 25(OH) D3 levels in men and pre-menopausal women (P < 0.05), not in post-menopausal women (P > 0.05). Moreover, increased VFA was observed to be associated with higher vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency risk with a positive dose-response trend (P for trend < 0.001). As compared to individuals with the lowest VFA, those who had the highest VFA were at 4.9-fold risk of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency [95 % confidence interval (95 % CI): 1.792-13.365] in men and 1.8-fold risk of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency (95 % CI: 1.051-3.210) in pre-menopausal women, but not in post-menopausal women [odds ratio (OR) (95 % CI): 2.326(0.903-5.991)].

Conclusions: These results suggest that higher VFA increases the risk of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency in men and pre-menopausal women, but not in post-menopausal women. VFA is a better and convenience surrogate marker for visceral adipose measurement and could be used in identifying the risk of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency in routine health examination.

Keywords: 25-hydroxyvitamin D3; Visceral fat area; Visceral fat obesity; Vitamin D deficiency.