Vitamin D levels in people of African descent are often described as inadequate or deficient. Whether low vitamin D levels in people of African descent lead to compromised bone or cardiometabolic health is unknown. Clarity on this issue is essential because if clinically significant vitamin D deficiency is present, vitamin D supplementation is necessary. However, if vitamin D is metabolically sufficient, vitamin D supplementation could be wasteful of scarce resources and even harmful. In this review vitamin D physiology is described with a focus on issues specific to populations of African descent such as the influence of melanin on endogenous vitamin D production and lactose intolerance on the willingness of people to ingest vitamin D fortified foods. Then data on the relationship of vitamin D to bone and cardiometabolic health in people of African descent are evaluated.
Keywords: African Diaspora; African-Americans; Africans; BMD; FDA; Federal Drug Administration; IOM; Institute of Medicine; Lactose Intolerance; Melanin; NHANES; National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; PTH; UVB; VDR; Vitamin D; WHI-OS; Women's Health Initiative–Observational Study; bone mineral density; parathyroid hormone; ultraviolet B; vitamin D receptor.
© 2013.