A bibliometric analysis and visualization of literature on the relationship between vitamin D and obesity over the last two decades

Objective

The purpose of this study was to employ bibliometric analysis to visualize hot spots and evolving trends in the studies on the relationship between vitamin D and obesity.

Methods

From the Web of Science Core Collection database, articles on vitamin D and obesity from 2001 to 2021 were retrieved. For the bibliometric visualization analysis, CiteSpace was employed. Some of the figures were created using GraphPad software.

Results

4454 pieces of articles and reviews were found, with an average citation of 30.68 times. There are many more published papers in the area of "nutrition dietetics" (1166, 26.179 %). The United States possesses the largest number of publications (1297, 29.12 %) and demonstrates definitive leadership in this field. The League of European Research Universities generates a higher percentage of publications (256, 5.748 %) than other institutions. Major studies are funded by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (531, 11.922 %) and the National Institutes of Health, USA (528, 11.855 %). The top five keywords with the highest co-occurrence frequency are “obesity” (1260), “vitamin d” (943), “insulin resistance” (651), “risk” (642), and “d deficiency” (636). The biggest keyword cluster was #0 "adolescent" among the 18 keyword clusters. The three latest keywords in the keyword burst were "mineral density"、"d insufficiency" and "25 hydroxyvitamin d concentration".

Conclusion

This bibliometric analysis shows an overview of the current status of the research on the association between vitamin D and obesity. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and the relationship between vitamin D and metabolic syndrome in obese individuals remains hot topics. We speculate that the effect of obesity on vitamin D levels and bone mineral density, and the influence of vitamin D insufficiency on various body systems in obese populations will be future trends.