Characterisation of the role of vitamin D in paediatric non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Previous research has suggested a role for vitamin D in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) pathogenesis. Several observational studies have observed low vitamin D status (25OHD) with poorer histological findings. The principal aims of this study were to assess diet and lifestyle, 25OHD status, gene variants in vitamin D metabolism in UK children, and separately examine the effect of vitamin D in an in vitro NAFLD model. Dietary results from the case control study (n=32) indicated vitamin D intakes of paediatric patient with biopsy-proven NAFLD and ultrasound-cleared obese patients were 1.7μg/day and 3.5μg/day, respectively, well below the new UK recommendation. Children failed to meet current UK government recommendations for physical activity. In our UK paediatric biopsy-proven NAFLD cohort (n=103), the majority of patients presented with deficient (<25nmol/L, 25.5%) or insufficient (