Vitamin D Deficiency Doesn't Cause Obesity. Vitamin D Supplements Don't Cure It

The study at Creighton University found that women who took both calcium and vitamin D lost weight or at least didn't gain as much. The study found that women who took just calcium also lost weight or didn't gain as much, but there was no added benefit to taking vitamin D.

So let's review. The Norwegian study didn't measure causality. It only measured correlation. The Creighton study looked at causality, and found that adding to vitamin D to calcium didn't help. But what about other studies?

There has been one other, similar study, conducted at . It found:

• Wome
  
  n who had low vitamin D levels who took 3,000 IU of vitamin D a day while dieting gained weight.
• Women who had low vitamin D levels who took 5,000 IU of vitamin D a day while dieting also gained weight.
• Women who had healthy vitamin D levels who took 3,000 IU of vitamin D a day while dieting gained weight, but
• Women who had healthy vitamin D levels to start with, who took 5,000 IU of vitamin D a day while dieting, lost an average of 0.2 kilos (about half a pound) in twelve months. However, some women in this group gained as much as 4.7 kilos (10 pounds).

The scientific evidence not only does not find that vitamin D deficiency causes obesity, it even finds that taking vitamin D may cause you to gain weight!

However, that doesn't mean you don't need vitamin D for other aspects of your health. It just means it is not a weight loss wonder, and you will have to eat less to enjoy all the benefits of vitamin D. And beware natural products vendors who sell you weight loss products that actually cause you to gain weight, only so you will want to buy even more.