Surprising benefits of vitamin D include vitamin D and weight loss. The key for realizing this benefit is to take it with calcium at breakfast. Here is the research.

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Benefits of Vitamin D

Vitamin D is the new darling of vitamins because taking it in higher than RDA doses offers many health benefits. One of the surprising ones is vitamin D and weight loss. A recent survey of this topic on PubMed listed 702 research articles.

The most practical of them is a 2011 study that shows what the benefits are when taking vitamin D with calcium at breakfast. Here is the abstract of that study in its entirety. I will explain a bit more about what this study means below, in understandable English for the non-scientists.

The blue highlights point to the main points of this study. The phrase, “…increased postprandial FOR and DIT over two successive meals, and reduced
spontaneous energy intake in the subsequent 24 h period,” means:

1. higher level of fat oxidation rate (FOR) after eating (postprandial)
2. higher level of burned calories (DIT, diet induced thermogenesis) after eating
3. ate less by choice (reduced spontaneous energy intake) in the following meals

Don’t scientists use funny words? The bottom line is that, based on this study, when you take extra vitamin D and calcium at breakfast, afterwards you burn more fat and calories and you won’t want to eat as much for the next day or so.

Oh, a good question at this point would be: How much vitamin D and calcium? Here is the latest advice:

The latest advice on vitamin D is to take at least 2,000 IU per day.

As for calcium, recommended doses to go along with daily vitamin D are about 1,000 milligrams of calcium a day for most adults, 700 to 1,000 mg for young children, and 1,300 mg for teenagers and menopausal women.

Updating the benefits of vitamin D and weight loss,

Dr. D