Vitamin D in obese teens could cause health complications, claims Indian researcher

Its a known fact that Indians are increasingly suffering from Vitamin D and Calcium deficiency and physicians are increasingly prescribing Vitamin D supplements to tackle this problem. But its time to beware of  prescribing this vitamin to teenagers.

In a new study, researchers have suggested that prescribing overweight teens with Vitamin D could lead to health complications.

Seema Kumar of the Mayo Clinic Children's Center said that after three months of having Vitamin D boosted into the normal range with supplements, teenagers did not show any changes in body weight, body mass index, waistline, blood pressure or blood flow.

She said that the finding might be attributed to the smaller number of children who participated in the study and the relatively short timeframe, and called for larger, placebo-controlled studies to examine the long-term effects of Vitamin D supplementation on teens and children.

Kumar opted to study Vitamin D in overweight teens because this population was at increased risk for chronic disease, and because of the compound's increasing popularity as a homeopathic or complementary treatment for obesity.

She noted that it was possible to ingest too much Vitamin D, a condition called vitamin D toxicity or hypervitaminosis, which could result in poor appetite, nausea, vomiting and kidney complications.

The study is published in the journal Pediatric Obesity.