Sun is more than a skin burner it is also a fat burner

Two people have managed to pad themselves up with 10 kg of fat. Both embark on a calorie restricted diet, with the hopes of extricating the extra fat. Who will be more successful ?

The one with more vitamin D.

The vitamin D obesity connection

A growing body of evidence is connecting vitamin D levels with obesity. We know Chubby kids are habitually missing vitamin D and that Fat cells lock in vitamin D potentially short changing health in the overweight .

The big question remains does inadequate vitamin D cause obesity or does obesity cause vitamin D levels to plummet. The chicken and egg story – which comes first.

Of course, if you’re trying to lose weight the philosophical debates are meaningless, you just want to know how to fix your weight issue.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota measured weight loss with and without vitamin D.

Dieting without vitamin D

The study began by enrolling a bunch of fatties who were keen to lose a little weight. At the start of the study, the researchers determined each person’s vitamin D status. On top of vitamin D status, the team also carefully plotted the location of the extra fat using DXA (bone densitometry) scans.

For the record, most of the dieters were on the low side – not a big surprise because modern man tends to avoid the sun like the plague. The surprise – vitamin D status impacted dieting success.

Vitamin D predicted weight loss success

The study participants went onto a calorie restricted diet for 11 weeks. The diet programme was tailor made for each individual, leaving each person running 750 calories short of what they needed to keep the energy equation balanced at energy in = energy out.

Everyone did manage to lose weight, but not everyone was equally successful.

Success was linked to vitamin D levels, not willpower.

Vitamin D trumps willpower

People with higher vitamin D levels were more successful at losing weight.

Scientists are fond of maths, so they took the information that they had gathered from the dieters and turned it into a mathematical equation. Don’t panic, I’m not going to go all mathematical on you, we will keep it in plain English.

The mathematical equation found that for every extra 1 ng/ml of vitamin D (hydroxycholecalciferol) at the start, the person lost an extra 0.196 kg of fat. And the fat they lost, was abdominal fat or belly fat – this is the BAD fat that causes the trouble.

If we apply the maths to “people” on diet…..

Jackie with a level of 12 ng/ml (seriously deficient in vitamin D),
Tebogo with a level of 25 ng/ml (insufficient) and
Patricia with a level of 45 ng/ml (normal)

After 11 weeks of dieting, Jackie would have lost 5 kg, Tebogo would have lost 7.5 kg and Patricia would have lost 11 kg. Who would you want to be ? I’d want to be Patricia not Jackie !

Add vitamin D to your diet programme

The weight loss industry sell lots of lotions and potions which they claim help you lose weight. Ingredients include

Stimulants such as caffeine, ephedrine etc.
“Fat burners” such as carnatine, clavulenic acid
Appetite suppressents such as Hoodia

Most of the time, the benefits of these ingredients are either risky or a little iffy and probably don’t warrant the cost.

If you’re looking to cook the books with a little pharmacological intervention, maybe try vitamin D as your fat burner.

Vitamin D in NORMAL doses, is neither risky or iffy.

Fixing your vitamin D status is a good health move – it will benefit your bones, will boost your immune system and might even clear your head of a little junk.

PLUS it will probably help carry a few of those fat cells out of the body.

Sun burns fat

We all know spending too long in the sun causes very painful sun burns. But, the sun in small doses, turns cholesterol in our skin into vitamin D which is able to “burn” fat.

Get Mother Nature’s fat burner working for you – sun tan a little everyday or if you’re sun phobic, supplement with vitamin D3.

Successful weight loss with dieting is linked to vitamin D levels – press release from The Endocrine Society

Interested in learning more about the chemistry behind those extra fat layers ?

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Balance Eicosanoids	Rein in insulin	Dial down stress	Sleep !	Increase Vit D	Culivate microflora	Think champion

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Small things can make a big difference to your health