A new study sheds light that 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 is an effective treatment for vitamin D deficiency in some specific patients.

There are several million people worldwide with various fat malabsorption syndromes including those who have undergone gastric bypass surgery and those with obesity. These patients often have a difficult time absorbing vitamin D and both groups of patients are at an increased risk for vitamin D deficiency and therefore at higher risk for osteoporosis and osteomalacia (softening of the bones). Patients with obesity are also susceptible to vitamin D deficiency as vitamin D derived from intestinal absorption and cutaneous synthesis is diluted in a larger body pool of fat.

It is in this context that this study becomes more relevant. It demonstrates 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 is an effective treatment for vitamin D deficiency for these specific patients.

Patients with obesity are also susceptible to vitamin D deficiency as vitamin D derived from intestinal absorption and cutaneous synthesis is diluted in a larger body pool of fat. These findings appear online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

According to the researchers, approximately one-third of adults are obese and require much larger doses of vitamin D to satisfy their requirements. "This vitamin D metabolite is better absorbed in patients with fat malabsorption syndromes and since it is not as fat-soluble, it does not gets diluted in the body fat and is effective in raising and maintaining blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in obese people," explained corresponding author Michael F. Holick, PhD, MD, professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics and molecular medicine at Boston University School of Medicine.

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