Vitamin D deficiency and anthropometric indicators of adiposity in school-age children a prospective study

Background Cross sectional studies have indicated that vitamin D serostatus is inversely associated with adiposity It is unknown whether vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for the development of adiposity in children Objective We investigated the associations between vitamin D serostatus and changes in body mass Index (BMI in kg/m(2)) skinfold thickness ratio (subscapular to triceps) waist circumference and height in a longitudinal study in children from Bogota Colombia Design We quantified plasma 25 hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations in baseline samples of a randomly selected group of 479 schoolchildren aged 5-12 y and classified vitamin D status as deficient [25(OH)D concentrations <50 nmol/L] insufficient [25(OH)D concentrations >= 50 and <75 nmol/L] or sufficient [25(OH)D concentrations >= 75 nmol/L] We measured anthropometric variables annually for a median of 30 mo We estimated the average change in each anthropometric indicator according to base line vitamin D status by using multivariate mixed linear regression models Results Vitamin D-deficient children had an adjusted 0 1/y greater change in BMI than did vitamin D-sufficient children (P for trend = 0 05) Similarly vitamin D-deficient children had a 0 03/y (95% CI 0 01 0 05/y) greater change in subscapular to triceps skinfold thickness ratio and a 0 8 cm/y (95% CI 0 1 1 6 cm/y) greater change in waist circumference than did vitamin D-sufficient children Vitamin D deficiency was related to slower linear growth in girls (-06 cm/y P = 0 04) but not in boys (0 3 cm/y P = 0 34) however an interaction with sex was not statistically significant Conclusion Vitamin D serostatus was inversely associated with the development of adiposity in school age children Am J Clin Nutr 2010 92 1446-51