Association between maternal vitamin D status in pregnancy and neurodevelopmental outcomes in childhood: results from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC).
Br J Nutr. 2017 Jul 12:1-11. doi: 10.1017/S0007114517001398. [Epub ahead of print]
- Vitamin D is shown yet again to be very important during pregnancy
- 10,000 IU of vitamin D during pregnancy resulted in spectacular infant development – Coimbra April 2018
- Several randomized controlled trials have found deficiency during pregnancy was eliminated by $10 of vitamin D
- Ability to walk at age 1 is 3.9 X more likely if sufficient vitamin D – July 2019
Healthy pregnancies need lots of vitamin D has the following summary
Most were taking 2,000 to 7,000 IU daily for >50% of pregnancy
Click on hyperlinks for details
Problem | Vit. D Reduces | Evidence |
| 0. Chance of not conceiving | 3.4 times | Observe |
| 1. Miscarriage | 2.5 times | Observe |
| 2. Pre-eclampsia | 3.6 times | RCT |
| 3. Gestational Diabetes | 3 times | RCT |
| 4. Good 2nd trimester sleep quality | 3.5 times | Observe |
| 5. Premature birth | 2 times | RCT |
| 6. C-section - unplanned | 1.6 times | Observe |
| Stillbirth - OMEGA-3 | 4 times | RCT - Omega-3 |
| 7. Depression AFTER pregnancy | 1.4 times | RCT |
| 8. Small for Gestational Age | 1.6 times | meta-analysis |
| 9. Infant height, weight, head size within normal limits | RCT | |
| 10. Childhood Wheezing | 1.3 times | RCT |
| 11. Additional child is Autistic | 4 times | Intervention |
| 12.Young adult Multiple Sclerosis | 1.9 times | Observe |
| 13. Preeclampsia in young adult | 3.5 times | RCT |
| 14. Good motor skills @ age 3 | 1.4 times | Observe |
| 15. Childhood Mite allergy | 5 times | RCT |
| 16. Childhood Respiratory Tract visits | 2.5 times | RCT |
RCT = Randomized Controlled Trial
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Even higher risk of motor problems if material Vit D < 10 ng
Darling AL1, Rayman MP1, Steer CD2, Golding J2, Lanham-New SA1, Bath SC1.
- 1 Department of Nutritional Sciences,School of Biosciences and Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences,University of Surrey,Guildford GU2 7XH,UK.
- 2 School of Social and Community Medicine,Centre for Child and Adolescent Health,University of Bristol,Bristol BS8 2BN,UK.
Seafood intake in pregnancy has been positively associated with childhood cognitive outcomes which could potentially relate to the high vitamin D content of oily fish. However, whether higher maternal vitamin D status (serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D OH)D in pregnancy is associated with a reduced risk of offspring suboptimal neurodevelopmental outcomes is unclear. A total of 7065 mother-child pairs were studied from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children cohort who had data for both serum total 25(OH)D concentration in pregnancy and at least one measure of offspring neurodevelopment (pre-school development at 6-42 months; 'Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire' scores at 7 years; intelligence quotient (IQ) at 8 years; reading ability at 9 years).
After adjustment for confounders, children of vitamin D-deficient mothers (<50·0 nmol/l) were more likely to have scores in the lowest quartile for
- gross-motor development at 30 months (OR 1·20; 95 % CI 1·03, 1·40),
- fine-motor development at 30 months (OR 1·23; 95 % CI 1·05, 1·44) and
- social development at 42 months (OR 1·20; 95 % CI 1·01, 1·41)
than vitamin D-sufficient mothers (≥50·0 nmol/l). No associations were found with neurodevelopmental outcomes, including IQ, measured at older ages. However, our results suggest that deficient maternal vitamin D status in pregnancy may have adverse effects on some measures of motor and social development in children under 4 years. Prevention of vitamin D deficiency may be important for preventing suboptimal development in the first 4 years of life.
PMID: 28697816 DOI: 10.1017/S0007114517001398