Vitamin D, Body Composition e Metabolic Profile Indicators in Obese
Obesity, Vitamin D, Body composition, Cardiovascular risk, Phase angle
Introduction: Vitamin D, also known as 25-hydroxyvitamin D or 25 (OH) D, is a secosteroid hormone that acts on several metabolic pathways in the human body and that is frequently present in low levels in obese individuals. They also have many changes in the metabolic profile that create a pro-inflammatory state which contributes to clinical conditions such as dyslipidemia, dysglycemia, hyperuricemia, systemic arterial hypertension, metabolic syndrome, among others. This whole situation contributes to a high cardiovascular risk in a population already so predisposing to these outcomes. Objective: To investigate whether there is an association between serum vitamin D levels, body composition and metabolic profile in obese individuals. Methods: Data were obtained from the medical records of a specialized center in the treatment of obesity. Patients treated between 2014 and 2017, aged between 18 and 60 years, with BMI ≥ 35 years, who presented dosages of 25 (OH) D by chemiluminescence were included. All data collected were part of the service protocol of the center's multidisciplinary team. The bioimpedance test (used to calculate the phase angle) is optional in the unit's protocol, so only data from patients who agreed to undergo the test at the time of care were included. A narrative review was also carried out in order to investigate the relationship between 25 (OH) D and changes in body composition. Results: Lower levels of 25 (OH) D were shown to be associated with non-HDL-c cholesterol (P = 0.033) and 25 (OH) D was correlated with atherogenic profile indicators such as LDL-c (r = -0.164, P = 0.038), total cholesterol (r = -0.157, P = 0.047) and nonHDL-c cholesterol (r = -0.176, P = 0.026). There was no correlation with the syndrome itself. The phase angle showed an association, after regression analysis, with hyperuricemia (p = 0.018) and there was a trend of correlation of that indicator with glycated hemoglobin (r = - 0.167, P = 0.056). In the narrative review that investigated the possible association between 25 (OH) D levels and the body composition components, 21 articles resulted from the search, but only 15 were discussed due to their methodological quality. Despite the lack of homogeneity between the studies, it was possible to assess that most of them showed a relationship between low levels of vitamin D and higher adipose tissue in overweight and/or obese individuals. The same relationship was not demonstrated with the fat-free mass in this same group. Conclusion: 25 (OH) D seems to be related not only to the body composition of obese individuals, but also to their metabolic profile. The metabolic changes in this group seem to be related to a lower degree of cell integrity.