{"doi":"10.1016/j.obpill.2025.100173","title":"The association between hepatic steatosis, vitamin D status, and insulin resistance in adolescents with obesity","abstract":"Introduction: Epidemiological studies suggest an inverse relationship between circulating 25-hydroxy-vitamin D [25(OH)D] levels and insulin resistance (IR), yet interventional studies have yielded inconsistent findings. This study examined the relationship between changes in vitamin D status and markers of IR in adolescents, with a focus on the modifying effect of liver fat. Methods: A post-hoc analysis was performed using data from 44 adolescents participating in a 6-month observational study evaluating biomarkers of hepatosteatosis. Participants were categorized into two groups based on vitamin D status at the end of the observation period: those whose vitamin D levels increased or remained sufficient (VDI, n = 22) and those whose levels decreased or remained insufficient/deficient (VDD, n = 22). Liver fat percentage was measured using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) fat-fraction, and IR was assessed using the updated Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance (HOMA2-IR) and the triglyceride-to-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (TG/HDL). Results: Across the cohort, liver fat was positively associated with HOMA2-IR (β = 0.08, p = 0.023). The association between changes in vitamin D status and HOMA2-IR trajectories was modified by liver fat but only in Hispanic adolescents (β = -0.18, p < 0.001). Among Hispanic adolescents in the VDD group, HOMA-IR worsened, particularly at higher levels of liver fat. In non-Hispanic adolescents, HOMA-IR increased in the VDD group (β = 0.65, p = 0.033) compared to the VDI group, independent of baseline liver fat. Across the cohort, changes in vitamin D status interacted with liver fat to influence TG/HDL trajectories (β = 0.20, p = 0.034). Conclusions: The metabolic response to changes in vitamin D status in adolescents with IR may vary based on racial and ethnic differences and liver fat status. These findings underscore the importance of considering liver fat and racial/ethnic background in vitamin D and metabolic health studies. Future research with more extensive and diverse cohorts spanning the fatty liver disease spectrum is needed to clarify these relationships.","journal":"Obesity Pillars","year":2025,"id":536039,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":1,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9462,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1420904,"name":"Amanda Flint","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":456461,"name":"Ingrid Libman","orcid":"0000-0002-0255-4555","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":493920,"name":"Radhika Muzumdar","orcid":"0000-0003-0284-5536","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":323379,"name":"Xiawei Ou","orcid":"0000-0001-9815-0127","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":747451,"name":"David Williams","orcid":"0000-0002-5714-2865","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":266235,"name":"Elisabet Børsheim","orcid":"0000-0002-7842-0625","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":376350,"name":"Eva C. Diaz","orcid":"0000-0002-3528-677X","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":376348,"name":"Emir Tas","orcid":"0000-0003-3759-2778","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":35,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:52:00.885532Z","pmid":"40206184","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}