• Michelle Y O'Connor, Caroline K Thoreson, Natalie L M Ramsey, Madia Ricks, and Anne E Sumner.
• Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Obesity Branch, National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.
• Prog Cardiovasc Dis. 2013 Nov 1; 56 (3): 261-9.

AbstractVitamin 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.© 2013.

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