Vitamin D levels in people of African descent are often described as inadequate or deficient. Whether low vitamin D levels in people of African descent lead to compromised bone or cardiometabolic health is unknown. Clarity on this issue is essential because if clinically significant vitamin D deficiency is present, vitamin D supplementation is necessary. However, if vitamin D is metabolically sufficient, vitamin D supplementation could be wasteful of scarce resources and even harmful. In this review vitamin D physiology is described with a focus on issues specific to populations of African descent such as the influence of melanin on endogenous vitamin D production and lactose intolerance on the willingness of people to ingest vitamin D fortified foods. Then data on the relationship of vitamin D to bone and cardiometabolic health in people of African descent are evaluated.

中文翻译：

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非洲后裔人群维生素 D 水平低的不确定意义：骨骼和心脏代谢文献综述。

非洲人后裔的维生素 D 水平通常被描述为不足或缺乏。非洲人后裔的低维生素 D 水平是否会导致骨骼或心脏代谢健康受损尚不清楚。澄清这个问题至关重要，因为如果存在临床上显着的维生素 D 缺乏症，则需要补充维生素 D。然而，如果维生素 D 在代谢上足够，补充维生素 D 可能会浪费稀缺资源，甚至有害。在这篇综述中，维生素 D 生理学的描述重点关注非洲人后裔人群特有的问题，例如黑色素对内源性维生素 D 产生的影响，以及乳糖不耐症对人们摄入维生素 D 强化食品的意愿的影响。