Abstract

The prevalence of vitamin D3 and vitamin B12 deficiencies in 33 obese women between the ages of 16 and 41 was investigated in this study, along with their correlation with the body mass index (BMI)-based measure of obesity severity.  According to the distribution of obesity levels, the ma-jority of participants had increased body mass but had not yet attained the severe stages of obesity, with 42.4% being classified as obese class I, 6.1% as obese class II, 12.1% as obese class III, and 39.4% as overweight. The results of the vitamin D3 analysis showed that 48.49% of the women had inadequate levels, 3.03% had inadequate levels, and 48.48% had adequate levels. Because vitamin D3 is fat-soluble and becomes trapped in adipose tissue, lowering its availability in circulation, it may be the cause of vitamin D3 deficiency in obese women.  This deficiency is further exacerbated by low dietary intake of foods high in vitamin D and limited exposure to sunlight. On the other hand, the results for vitamin B12 showed that 72.72% of participants had deficiencies, 18.18% had borderline levels, and only 9.1% had sufficient levels. These results could be explained by reduced absorption brought on by gastrointestinal changes, insufficient consumption of foods high in B12 (such as meat, fish, eggs, and dairy), and unbalanced diets.  Furthermore, among the same group, vitamin B12 levels were found to be significantly lower than vitamin D3 levels; this is probably be-cause of variations in solubility, absorption mechanisms, and dietary sources. The study's overall findings emphasise the high prevalence of vitamin deficiencies, especially those related to vitamin B12, among obese women, underscoring the necessity of nutritional monitoring and preventive die-tary interventions in this population.