VITAMIN D AND METABOLIC HEALTH: EXPLORING THE INTERPLAY OF NUTRITIONAL STATUS, GUT MICROBIOTA, PHARMACOLOGICAL PATHWAYS, AND CLINICAL OUTCOMES
Keywords:
Vitamin D, Metabolic syndrome, Gut microbiota, Insulin resistance, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, Inflammatory biomarkers, Oxidative stress, VDR, Short-chain fatty acids, Molecular signaling.Abstract
Background: Vitamin D appears to play a significant role in the regulation of metabolic homeostasis and has activities other than on calcium and phosphate metabolism. Several clues have emerged that suggest vitamin D signaling could affect the regulation of glucose metabolism, inflammatory responses, oxidative stress, and intestinal microbial ecology. The interactions between vitamin D nutritional status and the composition of gut microbiota and metabolic dysfunction are not fully understood. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the nutrient status of vitamin D, the composition of the gut microbiota, metabolic markers and selected molecular pathways in adults with varying metabolic health profiles.
Methods: A proposed cross sectional clinical study with 120 adults was designed. They were divided into three groups: metabolically healthy controls with sufficient vitamin D levels, vitamin D deficient subjects without metabolic syndrome, and vitamin D deficient subjects having metabolic syndrome. Anthropometric parameters, serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, fasting blood glucose, insulin, glycated hemoglobin, lipid profile, inflammatory biochemical markers and oxidative stress markers were evaluated. To explore possible molecular relationships, selected molecular markers, such as vitamin D receptor, AMPK, NF-κB and Nrf2 were added.
Results: The illustrative dataset presented the example of a trend of higher and higher insulin resistance and dyslipidemia with decreasing vitamin D levels in the three groups. The metabolic syndrome group also shows changes in some of the microbial taxa and lower levels of butyrate in feces. Correlation and regression analyses are suggested to explore associations between vitamin D status, microbial metabolites and metabolic outcomes. The numerical results shown are only illustrative and should be replaced with observations.
Conclusion: The suggested study would offer a clinical, biochemical, and molecular structure to investigate the vitamin D–gut microbiota–metabolic axis. The implementation can help determine if there is a relationship between intestinal microbial changes and metabolic dysfunction and nutritional status of vitamin D. Main.
