Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Pregnant women lacking vitamin D

Much of women of childbearing age have levels of vitamin D deficient, as most of their young children, despite the use of prenatal supplements.

Vitamin D exists in several configurations, each with a different level of activity. Once vitamin D produced in the skin after sun exposure, or supplemented through diet, it is converted in the liver and kidney shaped physiologically active. The main biological function of vitamin D is to maintain adequate levels of calcium and phosphorus in blood. A deficiency can result in children, rickets and other diseases.

Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh, followed nearly 400 women during their pregnancy. They include blood tests performed in the 22nd week of pregnancy just before delivery and the umbilical cord blood. They said more than 80 percent of African American women and almost half of white women had a deficiency of vitamin D. Yet over 90% of them have used prenatal vitamins during pregnancy. Logically, infants are suffering too, because 92.4 percent of African-American babies and 66.1 percent of white children had a rate of insufficient vitamin D at birth.

For doctors these results demonstrate that dietary recommendations during pregnancy are insufficient to ensure adequate levels of vitamin D. Notices were issued in 2001 in France by AFSSA, that the optimal intake for adults is 5 mg / d (200 IU). Compared to the 1992 recommendations, these values have been halved and the current level is considered too low by almost all international experts. We found vitamin D in most fish oils in fatty fish, egg yolk (raw) and beef liver.

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