3/12/2015 2:55:04 PM
Moms-to-be who have higher blood levels of vitamin D are likely to have children with stronger muscles, according to a study published in January 2014 in theJournal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Researchers from the University of Southampton in England analyzed data from 678 mother-and-child pairs who participated in the Southampton Women’s Survey. The researchers noted that while there are established associations between vitamin D levels during pregnancy and bone development and body fat percentage in the subsequent offspring, there has been little information about prenatal vitamin D status and its effect on babies’ muscle development.
To investigate this, the researchers analyzed the blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in the women study participants when they were 34 weeks pregnant. Then, when those women’s offspring were 4 years old, the researchers measured the children’s lean muscle mass and muscle strength. This included hand-grip strength, whole-body dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, yielding lean mass and percent lean mass. Researchers also measured physical activity, via seven-day accelerometry, in a subset of 326 of the children.
The researchers found that the mothers with higher blood concentrations of vitamin D during pregnancy had children with better height-adjusted hand-grip strength. This continued to be the case after adjustment for factors like the mother’s health during pregnancy, duration of breastfeeding and the child’s physical activity levels.
The researchers also found that the children of mothers with more vitamin D in their blood had a higher percent lean muscle mass, but that was no longer the case after adjustment for confounding factors. Mothers’ vitamin D levels did not affect their children’s total lean muscle mass.
Thus, the researchers concluded that mothers’ vitamin D status in late pregnancy may influence their children’s muscle strength rather than muscle mass.
“These associations between maternal vitamin D and offspring muscle strength may well have consequences for later health,” the researchers wrote. “Muscle strength peaks in young adulthood before declining in older age, and low grip strength in adulthood has been associated with poor health outcomes, including diabetes, falls and fractures.”
Source: http://press.endocrine.org/doi/abs/10.1210/jc.2013-3241
Researchers from the University of Southampton in England analyzed data from 678 mother-and-child pairs who participated in the Southampton Women’s Survey. The researchers noted that while there are established associations between vitamin D levels during pregnancy and bone development and body fat percentage in the subsequent offspring, there has been little information about prenatal vitamin D status and its effect on babies’ muscle development.
To investigate this, the researchers analyzed the blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in the women study participants when they were 34 weeks pregnant. Then, when those women’s offspring were 4 years old, the researchers measured the children’s lean muscle mass and muscle strength. This included hand-grip strength, whole-body dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, yielding lean mass and percent lean mass. Researchers also measured physical activity, via seven-day accelerometry, in a subset of 326 of the children.
The researchers found that the mothers with higher blood concentrations of vitamin D during pregnancy had children with better height-adjusted hand-grip strength. This continued to be the case after adjustment for factors like the mother’s health during pregnancy, duration of breastfeeding and the child’s physical activity levels.
The researchers also found that the children of mothers with more vitamin D in their blood had a higher percent lean muscle mass, but that was no longer the case after adjustment for confounding factors. Mothers’ vitamin D levels did not affect their children’s total lean muscle mass.
Thus, the researchers concluded that mothers’ vitamin D status in late pregnancy may influence their children’s muscle strength rather than muscle mass.
“These associations between maternal vitamin D and offspring muscle strength may well have consequences for later health,” the researchers wrote. “Muscle strength peaks in young adulthood before declining in older age, and low grip strength in adulthood has been associated with poor health outcomes, including diabetes, falls and fractures.”
Source: http://press.endocrine.org/doi/abs/10.1210/jc.2013-3241