Vitamin D is needed while pregnant - 200 IU to 4,000 IU daily (17 cliical guidelines)

Prevention and treatment of vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy: the position of professional medical communities

Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2025; 8: 5-14 https://dx.doi.org/10.18565/aig.2025.216   PDF is behind a paywall

Artymuk N.V., Tachkova O.A.

Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education "Kemerovo State Medical University" of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Kemerovo, Russia

The review analyzed the position of 17 clinical guidelines from 14 professional medical societies:

• the World Health Organization (WHO),

• the British Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (RCOG),

• the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland,

• the American Pregnancy Association (APA),

• the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG),

• the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada (SOGC),

• the Endocrine Society,

• the Royal Australasian College of General Practitioners (RACGP),

• Health Canada,

• the Academy of Medicine (Académie de Médecine),

• the German Society of Nutrition (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung eV),

• the Chinese Nutrition Society, the Institute of Medicine,

• the Russian Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ROAG),

• the Russian Association of Endocrinologists (RAE), and Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora) and

• the consensus of the German, Austrian and Swiss Societies for Nutrition (DA-CH) on the prevention and treatment of vitamin D deficiency in pregnant women.

Conclusion: All professional societies agree that pregnant women should be advised to have adequate nutrition, which is best achieved by consuming a healthy, balanced diet, and should be advised that sunlight is the most important source of vitamin D. However, the analysis shows that professional societies have different positions regarding vitamin D intake during pregnancy. Recommendations for vitamin D intake during pregnancy vary from 200 to 4000 IU/day. Most societies do not support the use of routine high-dose vitamin D prophylaxis in pregnant women due to their unproven safety. High-quality RCTs in populations with low vitamin D levels are needed to evaluate the benefits of vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy, as they remain uncertain and characterized by high heterogeneity.

Recommended Vitamin D for pregnancy Perplexity AI table Sept 2025

Recommended Vitamin D for adults Perplexity AI Sept 2025

VitaminDWiki: 6,000 IU of Vitamin D is needed before, during, and after pregnancy

Loading dose recommended if not start supplementing before conception

Larger dose needed if obese, poor health, darker skin, long ways from equator, etc

Probably better if dose is taken weekly (50,000 IU) or bi-weekly (100,000 IU)

Related in VitaminDWiki

• 4,000 IU of daily Vitamin D during pregnancy is good (Mongolia this time) – RCT Oct 2023

• Healthy pregnancies need lots of vitamin D

• Health Problems Associated with Low Vitamin D at Birth

• Preventing a Lifetime of Illness Before Birth - Aug 2025

• Pregnancy and offspring health - umbrella of 250,000 pregnancies - meta-analysis May 2024

• Maternal pregnancy problems if Vitamin D is less than 40 ng – meta-analysis Oct 2022

• Preeclampsia risk reduced 7X by 4,000 IU of Vitamin D daily – RCT March 2018

• 1,000 IU of Vitamin D while pregnant helped a little bit (4,000 IU helps a lot) – RCT Dec 2016

• Call to action – more Vitamin D for pregnancies, loading doses are OK – Holick Aug 2019

• 50,000 IU of vitamin D weekly for 8 weeks of pregnancy raised most above 30 nanograms - RCT Jan 2017

  Consensus

• Consensus: Vitamin D is the most needed supplement before, during, and after pregnancy - Jan 2025

• Consensus for treatments takes a LONG time, even if only one supplement is needed - Rickets

  Other

• Gut-Friendly Vitamin D which is much more bio-available for those with poor guts

• 43 reasons for Vitamin D deficiency

• 21 reasons why doctors are reluctant to accept Vitamin D

• People who get little noonday sun must add vitamin D (supplement or fortify food)

• Reasons for low response to vitamin D includes the following summary

• High, Medium, and Low Response to Vitamin D due to gut, genes, obesity, etc - figure 2A daily dose of 3,200 IU

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