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Endocrine Abstracts (2015) 37 GP11.08 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.37.GP.11.08

ECE2015 Guided Posters Calcium, Vitamin D and Bone (1) (9 abstracts)

Associations of visceral and hepatic fat with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations

Renate de Jongh 1 , Renée de Mutsert 2 , Paul Lips 1 , Frits Rosendaal 2 & Martin den Heijer 1,


1Department of Internal Medicine, VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; 2Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.


Introduction: Obesity is associated with lower serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations. A major explanatory hypothesis is that vitamin D is sequestered by adipose tissue. Another hypothesis is a decreased hepatic activation by 25-hydroxylase in obese individuals. Because adipose tissue has different characteristics and functions in different parts of the body an important question is whether serum 25(OH)D is more strongly related to visceral (VAT), hepatic, or total body fat (TBF).

Methods: In the Netherlands Epidemiology of Obesity (NEO) study, a cohort of 6671 men and women, VAT was assessed by MRI in combination with 1H-MR spectroscopy of hepatic triglyceride content (HTGC) in 2076 participants. TBF was determined with bioelectrical impedance analysis and serum 25(OH)D was measured. We performed linear regression of VAT and HTGC on serum 25(OH)D, adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity, smoking, education, alcohol consumption, and TBF.

Results: After exclusion of alcohol abuse (n=117) and missing data (n=24), 1935 participants were analysed (mean and S.D. of age: 55 (6) years, BMI: 26 (4) kg/m2, VAT: 87 (54) cm2, HTGC: 5.6 (7.7), serum 25(OH)D: 62.7 (26.7) nmol/l, 56% women). Per S.D. of VAT serum 25(OH)D was 5.3 nmol/l (95% CI −7.5, −3.2) lower, and per S.D. HTGC 3.3 nmol/l (−3.6, −0.4) lower. Per S.D. of total body fat serum 25(OH)D was 5.7 nmol/l (−8.1, −3.2) lower. In a joint model including VAT, HTGC, and TBF, only VAT remained negatively associated with serum 25(OH)D (−4.9 nmol/l; −7.1, −2.7 per S.D.).

Conclusion: The major finding of the present study is that although all markers of total and regional adiposity were associated with lower serum 25(OH)D, joint models showed that visceral adipose tissue was most strongly related to lower serum 25(OH)D concentrations.

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