The Effect of Body Weight on Vitamin D Metabolism

There is current interest in the role of vitamin D in the prevention and treatment of many chronic diseases, including osteoporosis, cancer and neurological disease. The majority of vitamin D in the UK comes from the action of sunlight on skin, and very little from dietary sources. Half of the adult United Kingdom (UK) population have vitamin D insufficiency (according to the Institute of Medicine definition). There are still several important unknowns, including what the optimum levels of vitamin D are, and whether the same intake of vitamin D is appropriate for all sections of the population. Low 25(OH)D and high parathyroid hormone (PTH) have been observed in people with high adiposity (obesity), and the summer rise in vitamin D is blunted in obesity. The potential causes of low 25(OH)D levels include an inadequate supply of vitamin D (by reduced sunlight exposure or poor nutrition), the large pool size of adipose tissue or increased metabolic clearance rate. The investigators will measure metabolites of vitamin D and the kinetics of 25(OH)D using stable isotope techniques in lean, overweight and obese men, women and children to establish whether age, gender and obesity affect vitamin D metabolism and clearance rate. If low 25(OH)D in obesity is related to poorer skeletal health and is due to increased clearance of 25(OH)D or large pool size, then total requirements, and hence supplementation requirements, would be larger for obese people than for lean people.