Vitamin D in pregnancy and lactation: maternal, fetal, and neonatal outcomes from human and animal studies.
Kovacs CS.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Aug;88(2):520S-528S. Review.
PMID: 18689394
Dosing recommendations for women during pregnancy and lactation might be best directed toward ensuring that the neonate is vitamin D-sufficient and that this sufficiency is maintained during infancy and beyond. A dose of vitamin D that provides 25(OH)D sufficiency in the mother during pregnancy should provide normal cord blood concentrations of 25(OH)D. Research has shown that during lactation, supplements administered directly to the infant can easily achieve vitamin D sufficiency; the mother needs much higher doses (100 µg or 4000 IU per day) to achieve adult-normal 25(OH)D concentrations in her exclusively breastfed infant. In addition, the relation (if any) of vitamin D insufficiency in the fetus or neonate to long-term nonskeletal outcomes such as type 1 diabetes and other chronic diseases needs to be investigated.
Association of low intake of milk and vitamin D during pregnancy with decreased birth weight.
Mannion CA, Gray-Donald K, Koski KG.
CMAJ. 2006 Apr 25;174(9):1273-7.
PMID: 16636326
doi:10.1503/cmaj.1041388.
Interpretation: Milk and vitamin D intakes during pregnancy are each associated with infant birth weight, independently of other risk factors.
Maternal vitamin D status during pregnancy and childhood bone mass at age 9 years: a longitudinal study.
Javaid MK, Crozier SR, Harvey NC, Gale CR, Dennison EM, Boucher BJ, Arden NK, Godfrey KM, Cooper C; Princess Anne Hospital Study Group.
Lancet. 2006 Jan 7;367(9504):36-43. Erratum in: Lancet. 2006 May 6;367(9521):1486.
PMID: 16399151
doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(06)67922-1
Interpretation
Maternal vitamin D insufficiency is common during pregnancy and is associated with reduced bone-mineral accrual in the offspring during childhood; this association is mediated partly through the concentration of umbilical venous calcium. Vitamin D supplementation of pregnant women, especially during winter months, could lead to longlasting reductions in the risk of osteoporotic fracture in their offspring.
Vitamin D deficiency is associated with BV and may contribute to the strong racial disparity in the prevalence of BV.
Maternal vitamin D deficiency is associated with bacterial vaginosis in the first trimester of pregnancy.
Bodnar LM, Krohn MA, Simhan HN.
J Nutr. 2009 Jun;139(6):1157-61. Epub 2009 Apr 8.
PMID: 19357214
doi:10.3945/jn.108.103168
Assessment of dietary vitamin D requirements during pregnancy and lactation.
Hollis BW, Wagner CL.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 May;79(5):717-26. Review.
PMID: 15113709
We found that high-dose maternal vitamin D supplementation not only improves the nutritional vitamin D status of breastfeeding infants but also elevates the maternal concentrations into the mid-normal range. Thus, a dual benefit is achieved from high-dose maternal supplementation. It is noteworthy that in the Finnish study, the authors added a disclaimer, "A sufficient supply of vitamin D to the breastfed infant is achieved only by increasing the maternal supplementation up to 2000 IU/d. Such a dose is far higher than the RDA [DRI] for lactating mothers [and therefore] its safety over prolonged periods is not known and should be examined by further study." This point of concern was valid when this study was conducted in 1986 (92); however, on the basis of the current findings of Vieth et al (2) and of Heaney et al (3)-which showed that vitamin D intakes <= 10 000 IU/d (250 µg) are safe for prolonged periods (up to 5 mo)-we believe that it is time to reexamine the understated DRI of vitamin D for lactating mothers. This work is now being conducted in our clinics and laboratory.
Maghbooli Z, Hossein-Nezhad A, Karimi F, Shafaei AR, Larijani B.
Correlation between vitamin D(3) deficiency and insulin resistance in pregnancy.
Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2007 Jul 2; [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 17607661 [PubMed - as supplied by publish
Nutritional vitamin D status during pregnancy: reasons for concern.
Hollis BW, Wagner CL.
CMAJ. 2006 Apr 25;174(9):1287-90.
PMID: 16636329
doi:10.1503/cmaj.060149.
"Friday Oct 16, 2009 (foodconsumer.org) -- Results of a new trial presented at an international research conference in Bruges suggest that vitamin D supplementation can reduce the risk of premature births and boost the health of newborn babies, the Times reported Oct 10.
Vitamin D deficiency, which is common everywhere, has been linked in many previous studies to a variety of illnesses from heart disease, cancers, multiple sclerosis
and many others.
In the trial, Dr. Bruce Hollis and Dr. Carol Wagner of the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, gave one group of pregnant women 4,000 IUs per day of vitamin D at about three months of pregnancy. They gave a second group 400 IUs per day, amounts recommended by U.S. and UK"
Using these functional indicators, several studies have more accurately defined vitamin D deficiency as circulating levels of 25(OH)D ≤ 80 nmol or 32 µg/L. Recent studies reveal that current dietary recommendations for adults are not sufficient to maintain circulating 25(OH)D levels at or above this level, especially in pregnancy and lactation.
Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels indicative of vitamin D sufficiency: implications for establishing a new effective dietary intake recommendation for vitamin D.
Hollis BW.
J Nutr. 2005 Feb;135(2):317-22. Review.
PMID: 15671234 [
This is a very long newsletter. I will answer questions about oil versus water-soluble Vitamin D, depression, mental clarity, malignant melanoma, Crohn's disease, an imagist poet, multiple sclerosis, sun-exposure, high-intensity red light and collagen repair in the skin, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, influenza, the 1918 influenza pandemic, statins, the new Food and Nutrition Board, thyroid disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, athletes, the upcoming 14th Vitamin D Workshop, prostate cancer, the wrong blood test, pregnancy, autism, Alzheimer's disease, soap and sebum, asthma, sleep, the co-factors vitamin D needs to work (all contained in spinach), and-my favorite-UVC light and Vitamin D
Vitamin D requirements during lactation: high-dose maternal supplementation as therapy to prevent hypovitaminosis D for both the mother and the nursing infant.
Hollis BW, Wagner CL.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Dec;80(6 Suppl):1752S-8S.
PMID: 15585800