Vitamin D During Pregnancy and Infancy Sustains Target Levels for Infants

Post on January 15, 2014 by André Broussard, D.C.

Pediatrics 2013 Dec 16;[EPub Ahead of Print], CC Grant, AW Stewart, R Scragg, T Milne, J Rowden, A Ekeroma, C Wall, EA Mitchell, S Crengle, A Trenholme, J Crane,

CA Camargo
January 14, 2014

TAKE-HOME MESSAGE

  • Results of this randomized controlled trial showed that supplementation of vitamin D in mothers during pregnancy and then for babies (at 1000/400 IU or 2000/800 IU) increased the proportion of infants who achieved target vitamin D levels of > 20 ng/mL.
  • The higher dose sustained the effect for longer.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE

To determine the vitamin D dose necessary to achieve serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentration ≥20 ng/mL during infancy.

METHODS

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in New Zealand. Pregnant mothers, from 27 weeks’ gestation to birth, and then their infants, from birth to age 6 months, were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 mother/infant groups: placebo/placebo, vitamin D3 1000/400 IU, or vitamin D3 2000/800 IU. Serum 25(OH)D and calcium concentrations were measured at enrollment, 36 weeks’ gestation, in cord blood, and in infants at 2, 4, and 6 months of age.

RESULTS

Two-hundred-and-sixty pregnant women were randomized. At enrollment, the proportions with serum 25(OH)D ≥20 ng/mL for placebo, lower-dose, and higher-dose groups were 54%, 64%, and 55%, respectively. The proportion with 25(OH)D ≥20 ng/mL was larger in both intervention groups at 36 weeks’ gestation (50%, 91%, 89%, P < .001). In comparison with placebo, the proportion of infants with 25(OH)D ≥20 ng/mL was larger in both intervention groups to age 4 months: cord blood (22%, 72%, 71%, P < .001), 2 months (50%, 82%, 92%, P < .001), and 4 months (66%, 87%, 87%, P = .004), but only in the higher-dose group at age 6 months (74%, 82%, 89%, P = .07; higher dose versus placebo P = .03, lower dose versus placebo P = .21).

CONCLUSIONS

Daily vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy and then infancy with 1000/400 IU or 2000/800 IU increases the proportion of infants with 25(OH)D ≥20 ng/mL, with the higher dose sustaining this increase for longer.

Full Story:  http://www.practiceupdate.com/journalscan/7387
Journal Reference:  http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/133/1/e143

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