Check out this cool new research on the benefits of Vitamin D...

Promising Factors with Vitamin D

A person’s level of vitamin D may actually be a predictor of his or her ability to lose fat, according to Shalamar Sibley, a researcher in the University of Minnesota Medical School. A vitamin D deficiency may make you more susceptible to weight gain. Sibley suggests that a biological pathway toward weight loss is inhibited under conditions of a vitamin D deficiency. “Our results are not saying that everyone should go out there and take extra vitamin D to lose weight,” she says. “But if someone is vitamin D inadequate, then supplementing vitamin D to achieve normal levels might, in fact, help augment his or her weight loss success, coupled with standard approaches.”

Vitamin D is found in sources like fatty fish such as herring, salmon, catfish, and tuna; as well as fortified milk, cereal, yogurt, and bread. In addition, our bodies naturally produce vitamin D through exposure to the sun.  However, lead researcher Dr. Shalamar Sibley cautions that it has not been determined if a vitamin D deficiency causes obesity or if obesity causes a vitamin D deficiency. Sibley says more research is necessary. Among other functions, vitamin D assists in calcium absorption, encourages bone growth and prevents osteoporosis. Although there are many factors contributing to growing rates of obesity, the main culprit is eating more calories than your body uses.