To Your Health
June, 2018 (Vol. 12, Issue 06) |
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Vitamin D for a Healthy Baby
By Editorial Staff
Pregnant women who take vitamin D supplements are doing a great service to their child, suggests research, reducing the risk of the baby being born underweight, or even dying in the womb or during infancy.
Vitamin D supplementation also appears to improve infant calcium levels and overall growth during the first year of life, according to the review study in
JAMA Pediatrics, a research journal of the American Medical Association.
Vitamin D supplementation up to 2,000 daily International Units (IU) reduced the risk of an underweight baby by 55 percent and the risk of the baby dying in the womb or during infancy by 65 percent. The researchers' findings were based on a review of 24 clinical trials encompassing more than 5,000 participants.
While vitamin D supplementation did not reduce the risk of birth defects compared to expectant mothers who did not supplement with vitamin D, a complete daily multivitamin/mineral that contains the B vitamin folic acid certainly can, with a substantial body of research linking folic acid intake to lower risks of severe brain and spinal complications (anencephaly and spina bifida, respectively). Talk to your doctor to learn more.
