Study participants lost weight without dieting or other lifestyle changes.
Research has repeatedly shown that taking vitamin D supplements is associated with weight loss.
People who take vitamin D can lose weight without dieting or other lifestyle changes.
Adding in diet and exercise can help further reduce weight.
One study showed that people who drank more milk, which contains vitamin D and calcium, lost twice as much weight.
The new study included 50 overweight and obese women.
Half of them received the equivalent of nearly 10,000 IU of vitamin D per day for six weeks.
The study authors wrote:
“Previous research has shown that vitamin D deficiency is more prevalent in obese people and that there is an inverse relationship between vitamin D, body mass index, and body weight.”
The other half received a placebo, which they were told was vitamin D but was actually inert.
Researchers measured people's weight, waist and hip circumference, cholesterol and other biomarkers before and after taking the supplements.
The results showed that those who took vitamin D lost 3.5 pounds after taking vitamin D for six weeks.
The study's authors explain the results:
“The results of this double-blind clinical trial study of obese and overweight women aged 20-40 showed that vitamin D supplementation at a dose of 50,000 IU/w for 6 weeks significantly reduced mean BMI [body mass index], body weight, on the other hand, it significantly increased vitamin D levels compared with the control group. “
The vitamin D group lost an average of about 3.5 pounds compared with the control group, which had no change.
About half of the world's population is vitamin D deficient.
Foods rich in vitamin D include oily fish and eggs, but most people get their vitamin D from the action of sunlight on the skin.
The study was published in International Journal of Preventive Medicine (Khosravi et al., 2019).
