Monday, July 14, 2008

Vitamin D and Leptin

Here is an interesting article brought to my attention by Demi at www.lowcarb.ca. Scientist have known for a while that vitamin D levels in obese people and type 2 diabetics are low. Here is a clue or two as to WHY...

"Researchers at Aberdeen University found that obese people produced 10 per cent less vitamin D than people of average weight. The study also found that excess body fat absorbs vitamin D, stopping it entering the bloodstream."

Here is also some insight in to why a lack of vitamin D can help lead to obesity...

"The study found that low levels of the vitamin in blood interfered with the function of a hormone called leptin, which tells the brain when the stomach is full."
Full Story

Remember, the Sun is your friend!

As I have done my own experimenting with vitamin D over the Summer, I have noticed improvements in my skin and mood when I get my daily dose of sunshine. While my weight hasn't changed, my body composition is still changing and I am still losing inches. I have not really noticed a difference in appetite , but I really wasn't paying attention and it fluctuates wildly anyway. These clues about the interaction of vitamin D and leptin are very interesting.

According to metabolic specialist, Dr. Ron Rosedale, author of The Rosedale Diet :

"Leptin is the way that your fat stores speak to your brain to let your brain know how much energy is available and, very importantly, what to do with it. Studies have shown that leptin plays significant, if not primary, roles in heart disease, obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, autoimmune diseases, reproductive disorders, and perhaps the rate of aging itself."

By following standard medical advice to eat plenty of carb and stay out of the sun, we set ourselves up for a lot of diseases, like heart diases, diabetes, obesity and more. Good thing I choose to ignore people who seem hell bent on keeping me fat and sick. As more information comes out about the role of vitamin D in health and obesity, I will be sure to post it. In the mean time, I will be out in the sun, without sun screen, reading a good book. It's for my health ya know!

8 comments:

OhYeahBabe said...

Thanks for the vitamin D info. What bugs me is the articles that say leptin is important because it tells you when you are full, basically pointing only at overconsumption as the key to overweight. Leptin is so much more complex than a "full switch". I'm looking forward to more info from you on this, and to the results of your personal experiment!

Unknown said...

I just take the vitamin D gelcaps, they are pretty cheap, anyway, and I don't have to go out in the heat.

Jackie Patti said...

I take the Twinlabs D3/K2 dots. K2 is emerging as a preventative player in both heart and bone disease, so it goes well together.

They're tiny dissolvable pills, easier to take than any of my other supplements.

Linda said...

I agree Babe. But I do think it is important that leptin "communicates" with the fat cells. Could a messed up signal due to a lack of D be causing your cells to hold on to fat it shouldn't?

Here is something I just found..
"A new study by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center suggests that when fat cells increase in size – as they do during the development of obesity – the cells progressively lose receptors for the hormone leptin, a powerful stimulus for fat burning. Leptin, a hormone produced by the body's fat cells and involved in the regulation of body weight, was first discovered in 1994. It was thought leptin itself would be a key to curing obesity in humans, but the hypothesis did not readily translate into weight loss in obese people. Using mouse models, UT Southwestern researchers have now shown that if enough receptors are present on the fat cells, it is impossible for the cells to store fat and obesity would be blocked.
The new findings, appearing in an upcoming issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and currently available online, bring researchers a step closer to understanding obesity in humans, said Dr. Roger Unger, director of the Touchstone Diabetes Research Center at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study.

"We now think that people with naturally high levels of leptin receptors may not gain weight as rapidly over time as people who have low levels of leptin receptors," said Dr. Unger. "It could explain why some people can eat more and do not gain weight." To test this hypothesis, the UT Southwestern researchers used genetically modified rats in which the leptin receptor remained present in large quantities even during marked overfeeding. In normal mice, the high-fat diet caused massive obesity with enlargement of fat cells to almost three times their normal size. In mice with the forced overexpression of the leptin receptor on their fat cells no obesity occurred, even though they too were fed high-fat, highly caloric diets.

"The fat-storing function of the fat cells requires the disappearance of the leptin receptor," Dr. Unger said. "This is done in order to block the action of the leptin fat cells produce.""
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-12/usmc-olr113005.php

Anonymous said...

"By following standard medical advice to eat plenty of carb and stay out of the sun, we set ourselves up for a lot of diseases."

Funny that. You'd think they were making money off of false information!

Fascinating on the leptin. Likely another hormone that I produce tons of. I've had a lot of positive results since increasing my vitamin d...

Now I just need to find a good potassium supplement that gives more than 3% :/

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this information! I have increased my vitamin D as a result!

Kisal

Marsha said...

i understand reading about leptin deficiency i fit well in that category.so vitamin D will correct that defeciency??.help please
thanks
marsha

Anonymous said...

Interesting information about Leptin and Vitamin D. I have just been diagnosed with a severe deficiency of Vit.D. I was also being tested for possible Hypothyroidism because I showed so many of the hypo symptoms. I was really surprised to find out that I was short on Vit. D because I'm out in the sun so often here in Texas but I always wear sun screen, which blocks the absorption. I have been gaining weight for the last couple of years and honesly thought it had to do more with my thyroid. My endocrinologist put me on 50,000/units of D, twice a week for 8 weeks then she'll test me again. Hopefully I'll have some improvement status.