same infants would have met the current recommendation.
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ost babies did not receive vitamin D supplements. No more than 13 percent of the breast-fed infants were given supplements, and fewer than 4 percent of the formula-fed babies received them. The results - especially concerning formulafed babies- are eye-opening, says Carrie Drazba, M.D., a pediatrician at Rush University Medical Center, in Chicago. “I don’t think a lot of us realized that formula-fed babies are not meeting their vitamin D requirements,” she says.
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lthough the most obvious health problem associated with vitamin D deficiency in babies is rickets, or soft bones, pediatricians are increasingly mindful of respiratory infections and chronic diseases (such as type 1 diabetes) that have been linked to inadequate intake of the vitamin in that age group, Drazba says. A pair of studies published last year, for instance, found that children with low levels of vitamin D were more likely to have several risk factors that contribute to heart disease, including high blood pressure, high blood glucose, and low HDL (or good cholesterol). “We’re finding out that there are other risks associated with vitamin D deficiency besides rickets,” says Drazba. “A lot of cells in our body have receptors for vitamin D.”
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ealth.com: America’s healthiest superfoods for women
A second study, also published in Pediatrics this week, provides a snapshot of vitamin D deficiency among infants and their mothers in Boston during the same time period, 2005 to 2007. Fifty-eight percent of newborns and 36 percent of mothers were vitamin D deficient, the study found; the deficiency was deemed “severe” in 38 percent and 23 percent of the babies and moms, respectively.
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abies were less likely to be vitamin D deficient if their mothers took prenatal vitamins in their second and third trimesters, the study found. On the other hand, being born in the winter months increased the risk of vitamin D deficiency, as did being black. (Most of the individuals in the new study were black or Hispanic, and people with darker skin do not produce vitamin D as efficiently as lighter skin individuals when they are exposed to sunlight.) Health.com: Foods to boost your mood
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he new studies underscore that vitamin D deficiency is an issue that mothers and doctors need to address from birth through childhood and beyond, Drazba says. “We’re realizing that with the combination of more women breast-feeding and how we slather kids with sunscreen and don’t let them run in the sun anymore, [kids] aren’t getting the vitamin D exposure that they used to, or that they need,” she says.
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itamin D deficiency is a concern in adulthood as well. By some estimates, more than half of adults in the U.S. don’t get enough vitamin D from sunlight or from fortified foods such as milk, the other main source of the vitamin. And in recent years studies have linked vitamin D deficiency in adults to a long list of serious health conditions, including heart disease, certain cancers, osteoporosis, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, depression, and some autoimmune disorders.
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n response, the Institute of Medicine, an independent nonprofit organization that advises the U.S. government on health and medical matters, is now considering whether to raise its guidelines for vitamin D intake for adults and children of all ages. The institute is expected to announce its decision by the end of the summer.