A new study shows that vitamin D can cause more harm than good to teenagers. Scientists were surprised to discover that increasing the dose of intake of the vitamin offers no health benefits.
The study conducted by Mayo Clinic suggests that vitamin D is not effective in improving the heart health and reducing the risk of diabetes of adolescents suffering from obesity. In fact, the said vitamin could increase the cholesterol and triglycerides level of teens.
Pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Seema Kumar, M.D. headed the research that is now more than ten years. The team analyzed the effects of the said vitamin on children and were surprised of the results. They found out that vitamin D supplementation is not beneficial for teenagers.
Kumar stated that, "After three months of having vitamin D boosted into the normal range with supplements, these teenagers showed no changes in body weight, body mass index, waistline, blood pressure or blood flow."
In their recent study, the team studied 19 obese teens aging from 13 to 18 years old who are also vitamin D deficient. The subjects were made to undergo vitamin supplementation and their overall health were assessed by the researchers.
After three months of observation, the scientists did not uncovered any improvement on their health. Much to their surprise, they found that the participants developed increased risk of heart disease which is a result of increased level of cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood.
However, the researchers stated that they are still to discover the link between the chronic diseases and vitamin D deficiency among children. Dr. Kumar also clarified that the results could have been influenced by certain factors like the small number of children involved in the study. Besides the population, the time frame of the study is short. Her team called for a larger placebo-controlled subjects to further analyzed the effects of vitamin D supplementation.
"We're not saying it's bad to take vitamin D supplements at reasonable doses, and we know most obese teens are vitamin D deficient. We're just saying the jury is still out on how useful it is for improving overall health in adolescents," Dr. Kumar clarified.
The study from Mayo Clinic was published in Pediatric Obesity.
