Vitamin D status and dietary intake in young university students in the UK
ISSN: 0034-6659
Article publication date: 24 October 2021
Issue publication date: 28 April 2022
Abstract
Purpose
Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent worldwide. This paper aims to investigate the vitamin D status and dietary intake in young university students.
Design/methodology/approach
Forty-one healthy students aged 18–29 years from Coventry University UK were recruited during January-February 2019, including white Caucasians (n = 18), African-Caribbeans (n = 14) and Asians (n = 9). Plasma 25(OH)D concentrations were measured and dietary vitamin D intake was determined. Chi-square and simple linear regression were used to analyse the data.
Findings
The plasma 25(OH)D concentrations were (36.0 ± 22.2) nmol/L in all subjects, (46.5 ± 25.3) nmol/L in white Caucasians, (22.6 ± 7.4) nmol/L in African-Caribbeans and (37.4 ± 21.7 nmol/L) in Asians. The majority (85.7%) of African-Caribbeans were vitamin D deficient compared with 22.2% of white Caucasians and 33.3% of Asians (p = 0.001). Overweight/obese subjects showed a significant higher proportion of vitamin D deficiency (65%) than normal weight subjects (28.6%) (p = 0.04). The average dietary vitamin D intake in all subjects was (4.6 ± 3.9) µg/day. Only 12.1% of the subjects met the recommended dietary vitamin D intake of 10 µg/day. Dietary vitamin D intake (p = 0.04) and ethnicity (p = 0.01) were significant predictors of 25(OH)D levels and accounted for 13% and 18.5% of 25(OH)D variance, respectively.
Research limitations/implications
This small-scale study showed an alarmingly high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among subjects from African-Caribbean origin during wintertime. Education programs and campaigns are urgently needed to fight the vitamin D deficiency in this population.
Originality/value
The targeted population were in a critical period of transition from adolescence toward adulthood involving in changes in behaviours and nutrition.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all Coventry University students who took part in the study. They also thank Dr Patrick King, the senior technician who supported the study in the lab.
Authors’ contributions. HD, VA, NM and MM designed the study. VA, NM and MM conducted the study. HD took blood samples from subjects. HD and VA prepared the manuscript.
Funding. The author received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Data availability. The data of the study are available upon request to the corresponding author.
Consent for publication. All authors approved the submission of the manuscript and consented to the publication of this manuscript.
Declaration of conflicting interests. The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Citation
Dong, H., Asmolovaite, V., Marseal, N. and Mearbon, M. (2022), "Vitamin D status and dietary intake in young university students in the UK", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 52 No. 4, pp. 616-626. https://doi.org/10.1108/NFS-07-2021-0201
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited