400 IU of vitamin D for infants is good, 200 IU is not enough – RCT April 2013

Comparison between daily supplementation doses of 200 versus 400 IU of vitamin D in infants.

Eur J Pediatr. 2013 Apr 5.
Atas E, Karademır F, Ersen A, Meral C, Aydınoz S, Suleymanoglu S, Gultepe M, Gocmen I.
Department of Pediatric Oncology, Gulhane Military Medical Academy, 06018 Etlik, Ankara, Turkey, eatasdr@gmail.com.

The daily supplementation of vitamin D is mandatory for infants. However, there are still conflicting opinions about the exact daily dose. Thus, we aimed to evaluate a daily supplementation dose of 200 IU is sufficient and compared the supplementation doses of 200 and 400 IU per day. One hundred and sixty-nine infants were randomly assigned to two groups (group1, 200 IU/day; group 2, 400 IU/day) and there were 75 infants in group 1 and 64 were in group 2 with a total number of 139. The median levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 were significantly increased in group 2 at the age of 4 months (group 1, 39.60 mcg/L; group 2, 56.55 mcg/L; p < 0.0001). We clearly demonstrated that at the age of 4 months, none of the infants on the group 2 had a serum level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 less than 30 mcg/L. However, 21.3 % of the infants in group 1 had a level below 30 mcg/L. Thus, in order to avoid vitamin D deficiency and rickets, we recommend supplementation dose of vitamin D at 400 IU/day as a safe and effective dose.

PMID: 23559332

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Summary by VitaminDWiki

By age 4 months

	200 IU	400 IU
Average	40 ng	57 ng
% < 30 ng	21 %	0 %

Note:

1. Some countries still state that just 20 ng is sufficient
2. US: 400 IU is adequate for infants
3. Canada: 400 IU in summer, 800 IU in winter
4. European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology: 200–800 IU according to situation

See also VitaminDWik

• 93% of newborns of military in Hawaii had low vitamin D – March 2013
• Vitamin D DRI for children lowered to 200 IU in Korea – Jan 2013
• Many infant infections avoided with supplementation with 400 IU of vitamin D – Oct 2012
• Comparison of Vitamin D supplementation guidelines for children – China 400 IU 2012
• Infants again said to need more than 400 IU of vitamin D – Sept 2012
• Infants receiving 1600 IU of vitamin D were safe and healthy – RCT Aug 2012
• Bone health markers generally not improved by 550 IU of vitamin D after birth – July 2012
• Published Recommendations from around the world
• Vitamin D for children – translated from Spanish – July 2012
• Recommend 100 IU of vitamin D per kg of infant - Poland July 2011 many references
• See all items in Infant-Child 853 items
• 200 IU DRI for Korean children lowered from 400 IU, lowest in the world?
• Spain again at 400 IU if < 1 year old July 2012 full text in Spanish (on Web)
• Finland hopes to double Vitamin D dose for elderly from 400 to 800 IU in 2012