en Food Science Food Science پژوهشي Research <strong>Background and Objectives: </strong>Reports indicate that hypovitaminosis D is extremely common worldwide and is re-emerging as a major health problem globally. In the present study, the main objectives were: 1) to examine whether healthy men and women living in Ahvaz have adequate vitamin D status; 2) to assess association between vitamin D status and some cardiometabolic risk factors.<br> <strong>Materials and Methods: </strong>This was a cross-sectional study which was part of the National Food and Nutrition Surveillance (NFNS). A total of 235 apparently healthy women and men aged 20-60 met the inclusion criteria from the city of Ahvaz (latitude 31.3^oN, 48.6^oE). Anthropometric measurements including weight and height were taken. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations and lipid profile including triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL-C and HDL-C were evaluated.<br> <strong>Results: </strong>Mean circulating 25(OH)D concentration was 25.4&plusmn;12.7 nmol/L, with significant difference between men and women (<em>p</em>=0.015). Only 6 % of the participants had sufficient levels of vitamin D (25(OH)D &ge; 50 nmol/L). Results of logistic regression analyses after controlling for gender showed that subjects with hypovitaminosis D were almost 4.38 times more likely to be overweight/obese compared with subjects with vitamin D sufficiency (OR:4.38, p:0.011). There was no significant association between serum 25(OH)D concentration and the lipid profile components.<br> <strong>Conclusions: </strong>We found high prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in apparently healthy adults in Ahvaz, a sunny city of Iran. Our findings suggest that high vitamin D concentrations among the adult population are associated with a substantial decrease in body mass index. However, there was no association with the lipid profile components. Vitamin D, Ahvaz, Cardiometabolic risk factors 9 14 http://nfsr.sbmu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-38-5&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Bahareh Nikooyeh nikooyeh11024@yahoo.com 10031947532846003169 10031947532846003169 No Laboratory of Nutrition Research, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute and Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Majid Hajifaraji m39faraji@yahoo.com 10031947532846003170 10031947532846003170 No Department of Nutritional Policy-Making Research, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute and Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Amir-Hossein Yarparvar ayarparvar@unicef.org 10031947532846003171 10031947532846003171 No UNICEF Office, Tehran 193951176, Iran Zahra Abdollahi zabdolahy45@gmail.com 10031947532846003172 10031947532846003172 No Nutrition Office, Iran Ministry of Health, Iran Mahnoosh Sahebdel mahnooshsahebdel@yahoo.com 10031947532846003173 10031947532846003173 No Department of Health, Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. Amaneh Mosayebi Dehkordi amenehmosayebi6909@gmail.com 10031947532846003174 10031947532846003174 No Department of Health, Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. Dena Norouzi Noroozi@yahoo.com 10031947532846003175 10031947532846003175 No Ahvaz West Health Center, Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. Seyed Masoumeh Taghizadeh taghizadeh_m@kaums.ac.ir 10031947532846003176 10031947532846003176 No Department of Health, Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran Ali Kalayi alikala13@yahoo.com 10031947532846003177 10031947532846003177 No Laboratory of Nutrition Research, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute and Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Nastaran Shariatzadeh nsh1344@yahoo.com 10031947532846003178 10031947532846003178 No Laboratory of Nutrition Research, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute and Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Maliheh Zahedirad aban278@yahoo.com 10031947532846003179 10031947532846003179 No Laboratory of Nutrition Research, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute and Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Tirang Neyestani neytr@yahoo.com 10031947532846003180 10031947532846003180 Yes Laboratory of Nutrition Research, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute and Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran