Very high prevalence of 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency in 6433 UK South Asian adults : Analysis of the UK Biobank Cohort

Acknowledgements This research has been conducted using the UK Biobank Resource under application number 15168. This work was supported by in-house funds from the University of Surrey for payment of the UK Biobank access fee. The UK Biobank was established by the Wellcome Trust medical charity, Medical Research Council, Department of Health, Scottish Government and the Northwest Regional Development Agency. It has also had funding from the Welsh Assembly Government and the British Heart Foundation. UK Biobank is hosted by the University of Manchester and supported by the National Health Service (NHS). All the above funders had no role in the design, analysis or writing of the present study. Author contributions were as follows: Formulating the research question(s) (A. L. D., D. J. B., K. R. A., S. L. N.), designing the study (A. L. D., D. J. B., K. R. A., S. A. L.-N.), data collection (not applicable), analysing the data (A. L. D., D. J. B., K. R. A., S. A. L.-N.) and writing the article (A. L. D., D. J. B., K. R. A., S. L. N.). S. A. L.-N. discloses that she is Research Director of D3-TEX limited which holds the UK and Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) patents for the use of UVB transparent clothing to prevent vitamin D deficiency. S. A. L.-N.’s husband William Lanham-New is Managing Director of D3-TEX limited. S. A. L.-N. has received grants from (1) The UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) (project: Ergocalciferol (D2) v. Cholecalciferol (D3) Food Fortification: Comparative Efficiency in Raising 25OHD Status & Mechanisms of Action (D2–D3 Study), BB/I006192/1, £516 823); (2) The UK Food Standards Agency (Project: Vitamin D, Food Intake, Nutrition and Exposure to Sunlight in Southern England (D-FINES) Study, N05064, £600 000); (3) The European Union (Project: Food Based Solutions for optimal vitamin D nutrition and health through the life cycle, Lead Work Package; (4) nutritional requirements for vitamin D during pregnancy, childhood and adolescence using RCTs, FP7-613977-ODIN, Euro 6·2 million) and (5) The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD, £2·4 million). S. L. N. is a current member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for Nutrition (SACN) and a member of the panel who was responsible for the most recent revision of vitamin D recommended nutritional intake guidelines in the UK. She is a board member for the UK Royal Osteoporosis Society and the British Nutrition Foundation. She is Secretary of the Nutrition Society as well as Editor in Chief of the Nutrition Society textbook series. All other authors have no conflict of interest.Peer reviewedPublisher PD