Infants getting an additional 800 IU of vitamin D for 2 years had 60% fewer psychiatric symptoms at age 7 – RCT

Created May 2023

~~#00F:

Reduced: Autism, ADHD, Depression. etc

Notes:

1) Finland was supplementing milk with Vitamin D during the study, so both groups got more D
2) Study might have found better benefit if it had increased vitamin D dose with increased body weight
- Infant body weight triples in 24 months - so probably need 3600 IU at 24 months
3) Study might have found better benefit if it had adjusted vitamin D dose with BMI
- Obese needs >2X more vitamin D
4) Study might have found better benefits if supplementation had started before birth
5) Study might have found better benefits with non-daily supplementation
6) Study found a 79% reduction in problems if 1200 IU when mothers had Vitamin D levels <30 ng
7) Preemies need even more vitamin D – no comment in study about preemies~~

Effect of Vitamin D3 Supplementation in the First 2 Years of Life on Psychiatric Symptoms at Ages 6 to 8 Years: A Randomized Clinical Trial

JAMA Netw Open. 2023 May 1;6(5):e2314319. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.14319.

Samuel Sandboge 1 2, Katri Räikkönen 3, Marius Lahti-Pulkkinen 2 3 4, Helena Hauta-Alus 2 5 6 7, Elisa Holmlund-Suila 5 7, Polina Girchenko 3, Eero Kajantie 2 5 6 8, Outi Mäkitie 5 7 9 10 11, Sture Andersson 5, Kati Heinonen 1 3 12

Importance: Vitamin D is associated with neurodevelopment, but causality, critical windows, and potentials for modification remain unknown.

Objective: To determine the impact of high-dose (1200 IU) vs standard-dose (400 IU) vitamin D3 supplementation during the first 2 years on psychiatric symptoms at ages 6 to 8 years and whether the impact is different in children with lower vs higher maternal vitamin D3 levels; lower vs higher levels were defined as 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) less than 30 ng/mL vs 30 ng/mL or greater.

Design, setting, and participants: This study was a long-term follow-up of the double-blind randomized clinical trial (RCT) Vitamin D Intervention in Infants (VIDI) conducted at a single center in Helsinki, Finland, at 60 degrees north latitude. Recruitment for VIDI took place in 2013 to 2014. Follow-up data for secondary data analysis were collected 2020 to 2021. VIDI originally included 987 term-born infants; 546 of these individuals participated in the follow-up at ages 6 to 8 years, among whom 346 individuals had data on parent-reported psychiatric symptoms. Data were analyzed from June 2022 to March 2023.

Interventions: There were 169 infants randomized to receive 400-IU and 177 infants randomized to receive 1200-IU oral vitamin D3 supplementation daily from ages 2 weeks to 24 months.

Main outcomes and measures: Primary outcomes were internalizing, externalizing, and total problems scores, with clinically significant problems defined as T scores of 64 or greater in the Child Behavior Checklist questionnaire.

Results: Among 346 participants (164 females [47.4%]; mean [SD] age, 7.1 [0.4] years), the vitamin D3 dose was 400 IU for 169 participants and 1200 IU for 177 participants.

Clinically significant internalizing problems occurred in

0 participants in the 1200-IU group ( 5.6% prevalence ) compared with
20 participants ( 11.8% ) in the 400-IU group ( odds ratio, 0.40 ; 95% CI, 0.17-0.94; P = .04)

after adjustment for sex, birth season, maternal depressive symptoms at birth, and parental single status at follow-up.

In a post hoc subgroup analysis, 48 children in the 400-IU group with maternal 25(OH)D concentrations less than 30 ng/mL had higher internalizing problems scores compared with children in the 1200-IU group, including 44 children with maternal 25(OH)D concentrations below 30 ng/mL (adjusted mean difference, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.09-0.89; P = .02) and 91 children with maternal concentrations above 30 ng/mL (adjusted mean difference, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.03-0.72; P = .04). Groups did not differ in externalizing or total problems.

Conclusions and relevance: This randomized clinical trial found that higher-than-standard vitamin D3 supplementation in the first 2 years decreased risk of internalizing problems at ages 6 to 8 years.

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