Vitamin-D & prediabetes: a promising ménage in the Indian Scenario

Vitamin-D deficiency represents a global health problem affecting individuals across all life stages1. Hypovitaminosis D is largely due to inadequate cutaneous production from 7-dehydrocholesterol and, to a lesser degree, from low dietary intake or impaired intestinal absorption of vitamin-D. The physiological production in the skin of this vitamin-hormone is affected by the exposure to sunlight which depends, in turn, on seasonal changes, latitude, clothing, skin pigmentation and use of sunscreens. However, many newly recognized interfering factors are gaining growing attention, such as obesity epidemic and high levels of environmental pollution. These new factors pave the way for the association of vitamin-D deficiency to the worldwide detrimental changes in lifestyle related to the effect of industrialization and migration to urban environment from rural settings. Thus, obesogenic environment and industrial pollution might exert an important role in promoting vitamin-D deficiency in countries with developing economy, like India, where industrialization and urbanization are growing at an exponential rate.