[November 17, 2014]

New Study Shows Taking Vitamin D with a Meal Containing Fat Aids Absorption

Taking vitamin D with a meal containing fat may enhance its absorption according to a new study, "Dietary Fat Increases Vitamin D-3 Absorption," from researchers at Tufts University funded by a grant from Pfizer Consumer Healthcare. The findings could lead to a better understanding of how people can best absorb vitamin D from supplements. The study will be published in an upcoming print edition of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and is available online on the Journal's website.

"This finding improves our understanding of how the composition of a meal taken in conjunction with vitamin D impacts its absorption," said first author Bess Dawson-Hughes (News - Alert), MD, a senior scientist at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. "This study provides rationale for recommending that vitamin D supplements be taken with a meal containing fat. It may also influence the design of future studies of vitamin D absorption."

The one-day study of 50 healthy older men and women was designed to determine how taking a vitamin D supplement with a fat-containing meal, specifically a meal containing 30 percent of calories as fat, versus a fat-free meal affected the absorption of vitamin D. The research found taking a 50,000 International Unit(IU)vitamin D supplement with a meal containing fat enhanced the absorption by 32 percent (P=0.003), compared to when taken with a fat-free meal. The study also found that the ratio of monounsatured fats to polyunsaturated fats (MUFA/PUFA), consumed in a meal did not appear to influence vitamin D absorption.

"Pfizer is proud to help advance nutritional science research and to support Tufts' study to better understand vitamin D absorption," said Ditte Arltoft, PhD and global nutritional science lead for Caltrate® at Pfizer Consumer Healthcare. "For consumers, it is understood that the absorption of both calcium and vitamin D is enhanced when taken with fod. This latest vitamin D analysis shows that absorption can be significantly increased when supplementation is taken with a meal containing the amount of fat generally recommended in a daily diet."

Part of maintaining a balanced diet includes some dietary fat intake. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans offers recommendations about dietary fat and lists food sources of good fats including plant based oils such as olive oil, and nuts.¹

About vitamin D

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is naturally present in very few foods (fatty fish, eggs), and is most commonly obtained through direct exposure to the sun. Scientifically, vitamin D has numerous effects. Some of these are its contribution to supporting bone health and muscle strength and function. Yet, worldwide 1 billion people have a vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency.² Among other effects, vitamin D insufficiency decreases bone strength by preventing normal absorption of calcium. If the needed level of vitamin D cannot be obtained through diet, supplements are often recommended. The National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine has established evidence-based recommendations for daily intake of vitamin D for consumers by age.³

The study was funded by Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, which provided a research grant to Tufts University but did not have a role in its study design, and by a pilot grant from the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University.

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¹ The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 7^th ed., 2010. Available here: http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/dietary-guidelines-2010.

² Holick, M. (2007) Vitamin D Deficiency. N Engl J Med 2007;357:266-81.

³ Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium and Vitamin D, The National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, 2010. Available here: http://www.iom.edu/vitamind.

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