ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition and Metabolism
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1588700
This article is part of the Research TopicHolistic Approaches to Understanding Obesity and Metabolic Diseases in Urban EnvironmentsView all 13 articles
Exploring the Mediating Role of Serum Vitamin D in the Link Between Dietary Live Microbes Intake and Obesity: A Cross-Sectional Real-World Study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Nephrology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Key Laboratory of Nephrology, Ministry of Health of China, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Nephrology., The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- 2Department of Health Management Centre, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- 3Department of Endocrinology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- 4Department of General Practice, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- 5Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- 6The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
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Background: Existing research results suggest a correlation between body mass index (BMI) and serum vitamin D levels, as well as the intake of live microbes from dietary sources. However, it is essential to further investigate whether serum vitamin D could serve as a mediator in the relationship between the consumption of dietary live microbes and obesity, as this connection remains to be elucidated. Methods: We analyzed data from 18,099 participants in the 2007-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), focusing on obesity (assessed via BMI and waist circumference (WC)), serum vitamin D levels, and the dietary intake of live microbes (evaluated both as a continuous variable and a three-level categorical variable).A composite category “MedHi” was used to reflect the intake of foods containing medium (10⁴–10⁷ CFU/g) or high (>10⁷ CFU/g) levels of live microbes. Mediation analysis was conducted to explore how serum vitamin D potentially mediates the relationship between the dietary intake of live microbes and obesity. Results: After adjusting for potential confounding factors, both vitamin D and the MedHi consumption were strongly and negatively associated with obesity. Mediation analysis revealed that serum vitamin D mediated the relationship between the dietary intake of live microbes and BMI, WC, obesity, and abdominal obesity with mediated proportions of 14.6%, 12.5%, 13.0%, and 12.5%, respectively. Conclusions: The positive association between the dietary intake of live microbes and obesity risk is partly mediated by serum vitamin D. Foods with higher microbial concentrations could be beneficial.
Keywords: Live microbes intake, NHANES, Vitamin D, Obesity, Mediation analysis
Received: 06 Mar 2025; Accepted: 13 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Zheng, Xu, Zhu, Li and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lijuan Liu, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
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