Vitamin D supplementation in obese Sri Lankan children: a randomized controlled trial
What this study found
High-dose vitamin D2 appeared to provide the most benefit, with the authors concluding that 50,000 IU weekly improved insulin function, liver-related markers, and body composition more than the lower-dose regimen. In the 50,000 IU weekly arm, vitamin D rose from 14.92 (3.04) to 18.24 (5.77), ALT fell from 39.22 (51.37) to 26.94 (14.27), PTH fell from 37.24 (18.13) to 29.23 (15.29), and percentage fat mass fell from 41.89 (4.07) to 39.76 (5.43) over 6 months. In the 2,500 IU weekly arm, vitamin D changed only slightly from 14.92 (3.92) to 15.26 (3.675), with smaller improvements in ALT, fat…
- Study & population
- Randomized controlled trial in obese, vitamin D-deficient Sri Lankan children aged 5-15 years attending the obesity clinic at Lady Ridgway Hospital in Colombo, enrolled from October 2015 to February 2017.
- Intervention
- Oral vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) dissolved in milk was administered weekly for 24 weeks.
- Key limitation
- Small single-center trial with short 24-week follow-up, which limits generalizability and the ability to assess longer-term effects.
View source
Open PDFOriginal abstract
Background Micronutrient deficiencies are identified among obese individuals. Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is prevalent in obese children, and is hypothesized to cause insulin resistance and metabolic abnormalities. This study aimed to determine the effect of vitamin D supplementation on obesity and related metabolic abnormalities among obese Sri Lankan children with VDD. Methods A triple-blind randomized controlled trial was conducted among vitamin D deficient (< 20 ng/ml), obese children ( n = 96), randomly allocated to three intervention arms - treatment arm receiving weekly vitamin D 2 50,000 IU; supplementation arm receiving 2500 IU weekly and control arm, receiving placebo. Anthropometry, percentage fat mass (%FM) and blood pressure were assessed and fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin, lipid profile, aspartate transaminase (ALT), alanine transaminase (AST), vitamin D, parathyroid hormone (PTH) and hs-CRP and OGTT with 2-h random blood glucose and insulin was performed at baseline and after 24 weeks of treatment. Ethics Review Committee of Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo approved the protocol. Results Waist circumference Z-score, %FM and serum calcium significantly improved across all three arms, ALT significantly improved in treatment and supplementation arms while, BMI Z-score, PTH and vitamin D significantly improved in the treatment arm. Biceps ( p = 0.035) and subscapular (0.048) skin fold thickness, vitamin D ( p = 0.004) and ALT ( p = 0.012) significantly improved in the treatment arm. Conclusions A strict dietary and physical activity regimen could improve some of the anthropometric, body composition and metabolic profiles, but high dose vitamin D, enhances those improvements. Therefore high dose vitamin D seems to potentiate management outcomes of obese children with vitamin D deficiency. Trial registration The study was registered at the Sri Lanka Clinical Trials Registry (SLCTR/2015/017) on 12th September 2015 at https://slctr.lk/trials/slctr-2015-017 .