Abstract

Vitamin D deficiency is on the increase all over the world. The clinical role of vitamin D in calcium and bone metabolism is well known, but lower levels of the vitamin are also linked to obesity and an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. The molecular mechanisms of these associations are only partially understood, but it is known that vitamin D stimulates lipolysis and inhibits adipogenesis in human adipocytes, and lower vitamin D may induce body fat accumulation. Vitamin D receptors are expressed in pancreatic beta cells and skeletal muscle cells, and their activation results in increased insulin release and responsiveness to insulin for glucose transport. Vitamin D has recently been found to have potent antiproliferative, prodifferentiative, and immunomodulatory effects in many tissues. Vitamin D deficiency is often missed clinically even though its measurement is a simple laboratory test and its treatment is inexpensive and usually well tolerated. Nevertheless, physicians are not sufficiently informed about the effects of vitamin D other than those on the skeletal metabolism, and they rarely ask for plasma vitamin D measurement. The purpose of this review is to examine the association between vitamin D deficiency, obesity, and the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Autore Pugliese

• De Pergola Giovanni

Tutti gli autori

• DE PERGOLA G.

Titolo volume/Rivista

Non Disponibile

Anno di pubblicazione

2012

ISSN

1828-6232

ISBN

Non Disponibile

Numero di citazioni Wos

Nessuna citazione

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

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Numero di citazioni Scopus

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Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

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Settori ERC

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Codici ASJC

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