Vitamin D can reduce osteoarthritis symptoms in overweight people

Overweight people have improvement in osteoarthritis symptoms if they increase their vitamin D intake, says new research in the Clinical Journal of Pain.
Experts analysed blood samples for vitamin D levels from a group of 256 middle-aged and older adults. The volunteers reported on their levels of knee osteoarthritis pain and completed tasks to assess their balance, walking and rising from sitting to standing. Of the 256 people studied:
• 126 people were obese, of whom 68 people were vitamin D deficient
• 130 people were not obese, of whom only 29 were vitamin D deficient
This indicates that obesity is significantly associated with vitamin D deficiency.
Interestingly, obese people who had osteoarthritis and had adequate vitamin D levels were shown to have better functional performance across the tests than those with vitamin D deficiency.
It is thought that the larger amount of fat tissue in obese people can cause vitamin D to be stored instead of circulated around the body.
“Vitamin D is inexpensive, available over-the-counter and toxicity is fairly rare,” explains lead author, Toni Glover. “Older obese patients with chronic pain should discuss their vitamin D status with their primary care provider. If it’s low, take a supplement and get judicious sun exposure.”
Where does vitamin D come from?
We get most of the vitamin D we need from sunlight on our skin. Good dietary sources of vitamin D include oily fish (such as salmon, sardines and mackerel), eggs and fortified fat spreads and breakfast cereals.
The NHS recommends that people aged 65 years and older (and anyone not exposed to much sun) should take a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms (0.01mg) of vitamin D.

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Image credit: Justin Meissen