Study on Association between BMI and Vitamin D Levels in South Indian Rural Population

Vitamin D deficiency is a global health problem worldwide and is considered to be apandemic with implications for compromised bone health and other chronic diseases. A few studieshave examined the association between vitamin D status and body mass index (BMI). However,prospective data using the biomarker serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D 25(OH) D3 are limited andtherefore examined in the present study. Methods: Participants were selected from subjectsattending to Medicine Outpatient Department (OPD) in Sri Venkateshwara Medical College Hospital &Research Centre (SVMCH & RC) willing to participate in the present study between Jan 2020 to Dec2020. Anthropometric measurements, personal, medical history questionnaire, food frequencyquestionnaire (FFQ) for vitamin D, and sun exposure questionnaire were collected from all theparticipants in the present study, blood samples for serum 25(OH)D3 were collected from allsubjects. Results: Our study showed that the majority of healthy individual cases of the study i.e.,68.0% have a deficiency in vitamin D status, while 68.0% have ≤20 ng/dl in vitamin D, and 32.0%in >20 ng/dl. Moreover, the study showed a negative association between the level of circulating25(OH) D3 and BMI. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the association between BMI and25(OH)D concentrations in populations from south India can be seen across different age groups andin both men and women. The study also exemplified that higher BMI leads to lower vitamin D status,providing evidence for the role of obesity as a causal risk factor for the development of vitamin Ddeficiency.