title: Vitamin D Deficiency, Obesity and Diabetes.
abstract: Obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are main chronic diseases harming human health. Although the association between obesity and T2DM is well established, the molecular mechanism is still unclear. Accumulating evidence suggests vitamin D plays a role in the development of these diseases. Vitamin D is a necessary nutrient for humans. People usually do not pay attention to supplementing vitamin D, since vitamin D can be produced when their skin is exposed to the sunlight. Nevertheless, even in highly sunny regions, vitamin D deficiency exists, suggesting vitamin D deficiency is a global problem. Vitamin D deficiency has previously been considered only to influence bone metabolism. Accumulating evidence counters this opinion. In vivo studies have revealed that vitamin D deficiency reduces insulin secretion capacity of the islet beta cells in pancreas. Moreover, epidemiological studies have demonstrated that vitamin D deficiency is closely related to obesity and increased risk of T2DM. This review introduces the current work on vitamin D, obesity and diabetes.
authors.affiliation: Guangxi University College of Animal Science and Technology Nanning China.
authors.forename: Y-X
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Guangxi University College of Animal Science and Technology Nanning China zhoulei&commat;gxu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000378:metabolism; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D000078790:Insulin Secretion; D050417:Insulin-Secreting Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D012307:Risk Factors; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000378:metabolism*; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin; D014807:Vitamin D