A study reveals that individuals with higher levels of belly fat and larger waistlines are more likely to have lower vitamin D levels.
Vitamin D is produced in our skin on contact with sunlight, it plays a myriad of roles in the human body.
Recent studies have found that vitamin D might protect against heart failure, diabetes, and cancer, and that vitamin D deficiency causes hair loss.
Vitamin D deficiency has traditionally been linked to bone health, but it may also have a role to play in respiratory tract infections and autoimmune disease.
A link between obesity and lower vitamin D levels has previously been spotted.
The scientists have now discovered that in women, both total and abdominal fat were associated with lower vitamin D levels, but that abdominal fat had the greatest impact.
In men, however, lower vitamin D levels were significantly linked with fat in the liver and abdomen.