Vitamin D deficiency and prevention: Turkish experience.
Acta Paediatr. 2011 Sep;100(9):1195-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2011.02383.x. Epub 2011 Jul 4.
Hatun Ş, Ozkan B, Bereket A. abdullahbereket at gmail.com
Division of Paediatric Endocrinology, Department of Paediatrics, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Turkey.
A nationwide 'vitamin D prophylaxis augmentation programme' initiated in 2005 in Turkey reduced the prevalence of rickets from 6% in 1998 to 0.1% in 2008 in children under 3 years of age. The programme included free distribution of vitamin D drops to all newborns and infants (0-12 months) visiting primary health stations throughout the country. Free disposal of vitamin D to infants is an effective strategy for preventing vitamin D-deficient rickets.
PMID: 21672012
Update April 2016 got copy of PDF from Academia.edu
 Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki
Highlights from the copy protected article, by Henry Lahore - admin of VitaminDWiki
- <10 ng in 46% to 80% of pregnant women in Turkey
- Turkey gave vitamin D free to all infants 0-12 months when visit primary health care stations
- 400 IU in 3 drops, Cost for 1 year – 2.5 USD
- Start supplementation in 1st week of life (not second week)
- Turkey medical system was used to recommending 400 IU
It had been part of the medical curriculum for 40 years - 400 IU was NOT ENOUGH for 27% of 2-6 month old infants (who still had < 15 ng/ml)
- Turkey plans to give 1200 IU to all pregnant women
Comment by VitaminDWiki – 1200 IU is not enough, AND they should also give vitamin D to lactating women - Perhaps other countries need something else – example: Eqypt Calcium
- The only downside to the supplementation: some Turkish medical schools state that ‘they cannot find a single case of rickets for teaching purposes anymore’
Comments by Henry Lahore
- Suspect that they could have had similar success by giving vitamin D to just those women who had very conservative clothing styles
– but this could have resulted in religious overtones - Medical community had recommended increased vitamin D for decades, but Rickets rate continued to be about 6%
- It helped that the Turkish Minster of Health was a pediatrician
- They considered also having a loading dose of vitamin D, but previously had problems with people confusing the loading dose and the maintenance doses
– resulting in occasional vitamin D toxicity (loading dose was 100X more potent)
Would be desirable to use a loading dose: consider: vastly different bottles, different color liquid, not as potent
Possible concepts (Lessons Learned) that can be used by other countries
- Get buy-in from the medical establishment
- Consider giving >4,000 IU during pregnancy, so that the infant is not born with vitamin D deficiency
This would reduce rickets, asthma, pregnancy complications, language problems, pre-term births, autism, etc
However, there is a barrier: World Health Organization recommends a totally inadequate 200 IU during pregnancy - Start supplementation at first week
- Consider ways to have a loading dose - so that the infant does not take many months to get an adquate level of vitamin D
- Consider more than 600 IU of vitamin D - especially for breastfeding from mothers who are very vitamin D deficient
- Consider giving the mother enough vitamin D such that some is in her breastmilk
131 studies cited this study as of April 2022
- Global prevalence and disease burden of vitamin D deficiency: a roadmap for action in low- and middle-income countries - 2018 PDF
See also VitaminDWiki
- Overview of Rickets and Vitamin D
- all items in category Rickets
127 items - Group is giving only 200 IU of Vitamin D to 70 million women and children to prevent Rickets
- Turkey has yet not learned to GIVE vitamin D DURING pregnancy (5 ng average) – May 2014
Rickets reduced 60X - lessons learned by Turkey 20117640 visitors, last modified 09 Apr, 2022, This page is in the following categories (# of items in each category)Attached files
ID Name Uploaded Size Downloads 17373 Global 2018.pdf admin 09 Apr, 2022 1.04 Mb 188 6548 Vitamin_D_deficiency_and_prevention.pdf admin 11 Apr, 2016 131.02 Kb 890