People with obesity/overweight have 2 - 3 times the daily requirements of vitamin D than their slimmer counterparts in order to achieve the protective benefits of the vitamin. So they’re already set back several blocks on the starting grid. There’s hundreds of scientific papers now on the immunological benefits of high vitamin D, not just the meagre levels in multivitamins that might ward off the worst presentations of rickets. People really need 100 - 150 nmol/l serum levels to achieve optimal benefits. Also people with low vitamin D are more likely to have metabolic disease like hypertension & diabetes. Deficiency leads to clearcut cases of rickets/bone disease, but insufficiency also leads to a slew of conditions as it affects hundreds of functions/processes in the body, brain, immune system and metabolic system.
It’s not just overweight people though, only around 12% of the population is metabolically healthy and our junk/processed food diet is largely to blame. Over 50% of calories consumed in Britain are from sugary food or processed starches, which play havoc with blood sugar regulation and lead you to pack fat around your abdominal organs, even if you’re ostensibly a healthy range BMI.
“Eat healthy
Exercise
Protect the NHS”
This is what Aseem Malhotra has been saying recently in his European Scientist article and press interviews, made the front page Telegraph a few days ago. Eat Real Food. Meat, fish, vegetables, unsweetened dairy, nuts, unprocessed oils and fats like EV olive oil. Ditch the bread, pasta, cakes, cookies, crisps, breakfast cereals, fruit juices, sodas, flavoured yoghurts (get plain greek yogurt and smush some berries into it). Sugar and processed starches play havoc with your immunological and metabolic systems.
Take vitamin D supplements (each 1000 iu will increase your serum levels by about 25 nmol/l after several weeks).
Get some lunchtime sun bathing wearing a bikini or shorts & vest top. 10 - 15 mins per side (without sun cream) if you are fair, longer if you are darker skinned.