Vitamin A Deficiency and Its Association with Visceral Adiposity in Women

Body adiposity is associated with increased metabolic risk, and evidence indicates that vitamin A is important in regulating body fat. The aim of this study was to evaluate serum concentrations of vitamin A and its association with body adiposity in women with the recommended intake of vitamin A. A cross-sectional study was designed with 200 women divided into four groups according to Body Mass Index (BMI): normal weight (NW), overweight (OW), class I obesity (OI), and class 2 obesity (OII). The cut-off points to assess inadequate participants were retinol < 1.05 µmol/L and β-carotene < 40 µg/dL. Body adiposity was assessed through different parameters and indexes, including waist circumference (WC), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), hypertriglyceridemic waist (HW), lipid accumulation product (LAP), Visceral Adiposity Index (VAI), and Body Adiposity Index (BAI). It was observed that 55.5% of women had low serum concentrations of β-carotene (34.9 ± 13.8 µmol/L, p < 0.001) and 43.5% had low concentrations of retinol (0.71 ± 0.3 µmol/L, p < 0.001). Women classified as OI and OII had lower mean values of β-carotene (OI-35.9 ± 4.3 µg/dL: OII-32.0 ± 0.9 µg/dL [p < 0.001]). IAV showed significant negative correlation with retinol (r = -0.73, p < 0.001). Vitamin A deficiency is associated with excess body adiposity in women with the recommended intake of vitamin. Greater body adiposity, especially visceral, was correlated with reduced serum concentrations of vitamin A.