Are Vitamin Deficiencies Making You Fat?

---

Physicians often recommend to patients struggling with obesity to engage in a weight loss program that includes regular exercises and healthy diets. Daily physical movement for weight loss helps in burning the energy that is often stored in the body as fat. Healthy diets, on the other hand, include the consumption of fruits and vegetables, together with protein- and fiber-rich food items. A person driven to succeed in a weight loss program to conquer obesity will thus consider following healthy diets.

Healthy Diets and the Weight Loss Impact

A recent medical report has shown that aside from consuming sugar- or fat-rich food items in the daily diets, a lack in certain vitamins may also result in the development of metabolic disorders, including diabetes and obesity, and thus increasing the need to engage in a weight loss program. Using a study population consisting of approximately 1,314 pregnant women, the research study has shown that a deficiency in vitamin D may also play a role in the development of gestational diabetes mellitus. It should be understood that gestational diabetes only occurs during pregnancy and is often coupled with the symptoms of obesity, such as increase in body weight and body mass index. Pregnancy is strongly associated with an increased appetite and bigger sizes for the daily diets and thus it is common to find pregnant women to gain much weight during pregnancy. Unfortunately, engaging in a weight loss program may be harmful to the developing fetus and thus it may be better to simply be watchful of the type of food items included in the daily diets to prevent the occurrence of obesity.

The Obesity Research

The research study involved collecting blood samples from the pregnant women and screening for the levels of vitamin D and glucose in the blood. The study participants were also examined in terms of body mass index, body weight, and information regarding their daily diets. The pregnant women were also subjected to a 50-gram glucose challenge test, which involves their consumption of a food item that contains approximately 50 grams of sugar and testing their blood glucose levels after one hour of eating that particular food item. The measured sugar level would then be compared to the vitamin D level of the study participant in order to infer a relationship between these two variables.

Results of the Obesity Study

This recent medical report provides important information on the role of vitamin D in the daily diets, especially in terms of development of obesity and other endocrine disorders. Weight loss programs have been the most effective and reliable regimen against obesity and diabetes, yet not all people can comprehensively engage in the specific weight loss activities, such as physical exercise. During pregnancy, only certain physical exercises are allowed, such as walking, and the other more active movements for weight loss may be restricted. It is thus important for pregnant women to avoid the development of obesity by strictly watching their diets by eating more of the healthy food items and to participate in pregnancy-appropriate weight loss activities.

---

1. Prev:Laws Against Your Grandkids Eating Junk Food?
2. Next:Doing This is Just as Dangerous as Smoking