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Vitamin D supplementation does not affect insulin resistance in children
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Healthy black and white children randomly assigned varying doses of vitamin D over 12 weeks saw no changes in insulin resistance measurements, study findings show.
Ashley J. Ferira, of the University of Georgia, and colleagues analyzed data from 323 black and white children aged 9 to 13 years (50% boys; 51% black; 21% with overweight; 21% with obesity; 5% meeting prediabetes criteria) participating in the GAPI vitamin D supplementation trial. Researchers randomly assigned one of four doses of vitamin D for 12 weeks (400, 1,000, 2,000 or 4,000 IU daily) or oral placebo. Researchers measured fasting serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D, glucose and insulin at baseline and 6 and 12 weeks; homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was used to measure insulin resistance.
Researchers found that baseline serum 25-(OH)D was inversely associated with insulin (r = –0.14; P = .017) and HOMA-IR (r = –0.146; P = .012) after adjustment for race, sex, age, pubertal maturation, fat mass and BMI. However, glucose and insulin levels and insulin resistance increased over 12 weeks (P < .003), despite vitamin D dose-dependent increases in serum 25-(OH)D.
“The significant increase in all three outcomes in this study suggests that this phenomenon was occurring organically in our children over the course of the trial,” the researchers wrote. “We observed that female, black and high-fat children were more insulin resistant than male, white and normal-fat children, respectively. We addressed these possible confounding variables statistically; however, none remained significant in the final models.” – by Regina Schaffer
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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