Vitamin D status in infancy inversely tied to cardiometabolic health in adolescence

Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) at age 1 year shows an inverse association with childhood body mass index for age z score (BMIZ), percentage body fat at age 16/17 years, and a metabolic syndrome (MetS) score at age 16/17 years, a recent study has found.

This cohort study in Santiago, Chile, included 306 participants, from whom serum 25(OH)D were quantified in samples obtained at age 1 year. Anthropometry was then performed at ages 5, 10, and 16/17 years.

The authors determined body composition at age 16/17 years using DXA and quantified metabolic parameters in a blood sample. They also assessed the associations of infancy 25(OH)D with BMIZ at ages 5, 10, and 16/17 years; with percentage fat and percentage lean body mass at age 16/17 years; and with a MetS score and its components at age 16/17 years.

An inverse association was observed between infancy 25(OH)D and BMIZ in childhood; every 25-nmol/L difference in 25(OH)D led to an adjusted 0.11-unit lower BMIZ at age 5 years (95 percent confidence interval [CI], –0.20 to –0.03; p=0.01) and a 0.09-unit lower BMIZ change from ages 1 to 5 years (95 percent CI, –0.17 to –0.01; p=0.02).

In addition, every 25-nmol/L 25(OH)D in infancy correlated with an adjusted 1.3-points lower percentage body fat mass (95 percent CI, –2.2 to –0.4; p=0.005) and an adjusted 0.03-unit lower MetS score (95 percent CI, –0.05 to –0.01; p=0.01) at age 16/17 years through inverse associations with waist circumference and the Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance.

“Intervention studies are warranted to examine the effects of vitamin D supplementation in early life on long-term cardiometabolic outcomes,” the authors said.