Overview Pregnancy and vitamin D

• The benefits to mom start about 2,000 IU daily average (2000 IU costs less than $15 per year)
• Substantial benefits proven for 4,000 IU taken during pregnancy (fewer complications, lower cost)
• Best benefits at 6,000 IU - this much is also needed if breast feeding without supplementing the infant
• Taking > 2,000 IU raises the cost, primarily due to cost of Cofactors.

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Pregnancy category listing has 918 items along with many category combinations

Vitamin D during pregnancy

IU	Cumulative Benefit	Blood level	Cofactors	Calcium	$*/month
200	Better bones for mom with 600 mg of Calcium	6 ng/ml increase	Not needed	No effect	$0.10
400	Less Rickets (but not zero with 400 IU) 3X less adolescent Schizophrenia Fewer child seizures	20-30 ng/ml	Not needed	No effect	$0.20
2000	2X More likely to get pregnant naturally/IVF 2X Fewer dental problems with pregnancy 8X less diabetes 4X fewer C-sections (>37 ng) 4X less preeclampsia (40 ng vs 10 ng) 5X less child asthma 2X fewer language problems age 5	42 ng/ml	Desirable	< 750 mg	$1
4000	2X fewer pregnancy complications 2X fewer pre-term births	49 ng/ml	Should have cofactors	< 750 mg	$3
6000	Probable: larger benefits for above items Just enough D for breastfed infant More maternal and infant weight		Should have cofactors	< 750 mg	$4

$* assumes

• You buy fairly |low cost vitamin D and Cofactors (more expensive if liquid and/or vegan )
• Using a low cost size of vitamin D - such as 5,000 IU, as often as needed. (50,000 IU costs even less)
  Example: 5000 IU every other day if you only want an average of 2500 IU
• Test vitamin D levels of only those moms who are at high risk for being vitamin D deficient
     $30 for a blood test about 6 weeks after starting vitamin D to check that high-risk mom is getting enough

Benefits which do not fit into the previous matrix

• Vaginosis during pregnancy 5X more likely if low vitamin D – Dec 2011
• Gestational Diabetes mostly treated with just 2 doses of 50,000 IU of vitamin D – RCT Dec 2013
• Might reduce Postpartum Depression IU not specified
• Menstruation 10 months earlier if low on vitamin D – Aug 2011

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Healthy pregnancies need lots of vitamin D

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
click here for details

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Ensure a healthy pregnancy and baby - take Vitamin D before conception

has the following

click on chart for details

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61 Studies of Pregnancy AND Intervention in VitaminDWiki

This count and list are automatically updated

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6 Studies of Pregnancy AND Loading Dose in VitaminDWiki

This count and list are automatically updated

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Pregnancy - general

• All items in Pregnancy and Vitamin D 918 items
• Vitamin D intervention for 8 weeks of pregnancy: infants taller, heavier and bigger heads – RCT Oct 2013
• Pregnancy needs 4000 IU of vitamin D: current opinion - June 2013 4000 IU
• Pregnant women should have 4,000 IU of vitamin D – Topic review June 2013 4000 IU
• Optimal Vitamin D during pregnancy - 4000 IU March 2012 Wagner, Hollis, et al
• 4000 IU Vitamin D Safe and Effective For Healthy Pregnant Women – June 2011
• Hollis shows far healthier pregnancy when take 4000 IU of vitamin D
• Many groups of pregnant women are at high risk of being vitamin D deficient – Jan 2013
• 35,000 IU vitamin D weekly during 3rd quarter pregnancy – RCT March 2013
• Near the end of pregnancy 50,000 IU vitamin D weekly was great – RCT April 2013
• Variety of pregnancy problems with low vitamin D – systematic review Sept 2012
• Pregnancy and vitamin D meta-analysis – July 2012
• Low vitamin D increased probability of low birth weight by 60 percent – meta-analysis June 2012
• Predicted vitamin D levels during pregnancy were sort of similar to those measured – Jan 2013
• Vitamin D of 32 to 60 ng is needed before, during, and after pregnancy – Dec 2012
• Higher vitamin D in pregnancy resulted in 2X better infant psychomotor and mental scores – Sept 2012
• More vitamin D during pregnancy made for higher mental scores at 14 months – Dec 2012
  yet another study with the same conclusion as above
• Calcium and bone disorders in pregnancy – May 2012
• Review of recent publications on vitamin D and pregnancy – Feb 2012
  article outline includes "Neonatal morbidity"
  MSNBC article Aug 2011 mentions that US has poor record for deaths within 1 month of birth
  Preterm delivery, asphyxia (lack of oxygen) and severe infections = 3 top causes of newborn death.
     (Note that the 1st and 3rd are associated with low vitamin D)
• Profound vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy - Dec 2010 Wagner, Hollis, et al PDF
• Pregnancy slideshow - 2012 Hollis
• How much vitamin D during pregnancy - Wagner April 2010 author of the two videos and chart below.
• Wagner 53 minute video of the proceeding PDF presentation - April 2010
• Book by Hollis and Wagner on Pregnancy and vitamin D - June 2010
• OBGYN College in UK still recommends only 400 IU during pregnancy – Jan 2012 amazingly low
• French Society of Paediatics Vitamin D recommendations – Jan 2012 lots of details such as:
  pregnant women: a single dose of 80,000 to 100,000 IU at the beginning of the 7th month of pregnancy
    (VitaminDWiki comment: this is too much all at once)
• Needed more than 1600 IU of vitamin D during pregnancy – RCT May 2013 which has the following chart

• Pregnancy and low vitamin D in Qataris and women around the world – Sept 2013 click on thumnail to see thesummary of the studies

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Pregnancy problems vs Vitamin D level - GrassrootsHealth Feb 2015

Recharted by VitaminDWiki Feb 2017

Original

Legend:
All percentages reference a common reference level of 25.0 ng/ml as shown on the chart. %’s reflect the disease prevention % at the beginning and ending of available data.
Example: Gestational diabetes incidence is reduced by 11% when the serum level is 30.7 ng/ml vs the reference level of 25.0 ng/ml. There is a 33% reduction in incidence when the serum level is 41.9 ng/ml vs the reference level of 25.0 ng/ml.
References:

• (Preterm Birth (1): Wagner CL, et al. 17th Workshop on Vitamin D; 2014 June 17-20.
  Preterm Birth (2): Bodnar LM, et al. Obstetrics & Gynecology; 2015.
• Hypertensive Pregnancy Disorders, Gestational Diabetes, and Bacterial Vaginosis: Wagner CL, et al. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2013;136:313-320.
• Depression: Huang JY, et al. J Womens Health. 2014;23(7):588-95.
• Impaired Muscle Strength: Kalliokoski P, et al. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2013;13(237).
• Postpartum Depression: Gur EB, et al. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2014;179:110-6.
• Small for Gestational Age: Gernand, AD, et al. Obstet Gynecol. 2014;123(1):40-8.
• Common Cold, Ear Infection, and Lung Inflammation: Shin YH, et al. Korean J Pediatr. 2013;56(10):439-445.
• Asthma: Magnus MC, et al. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 2013;27(6).

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Preterm and low-weight births

• Improved births with 2,000 IU vitamin D during pregnancy in India - RCT Feb 2015
  less preterm, less c-section, weight more, better APGAR scores
• Premature birth 2.5X more likely if mother had low vitamin D and was having twins – July 2013
• Pre-term birth 3X more likely and C-section 4X if less than 20 ng of vitamin D – May 2012
• Why vitamin D reduces premature birth - April 2011 Note: 2X death rate for premature birth
• Premature delivery associated with low vitamin D in Japanese women – Mar 2011
• Premature or low birth weight resulted in children 3X more likely to be anxious – May 2011
• 50% of very low birthweight infants develop osteopenia with rickets before May 2011
• 7X more likely to have low birth weight babies when mother very low on vitamin D – March 2010
• Arab pre-term infants often have less than 10 ng of vitamin D - 2010
• Pre-term births report USA-Today May 2012
  Of all births: US Blacks 17%, US whites 11%, Germany 9%, UK Canada, Australia 8%, France 7%, Japan 6%
  For 62 out of 65 countries, the rate of premature births has been increasing
  comment by a reader " maternal obesity which increases chance of premature delivery 30%" see original 126 page study
• Osteopenia in preterm infants – May 2012
• The worldwide incidence of preterm birth WHO 2009 PDF is at the bottom of this page
• Vitamin D Webinar - cost of pre-term birth etc- Baggerly Nov 2013 which has the following chart

• Preterm birth vs UV in the US now Vitamin D Council July 2014
  Health problems like preterm birth now INCREASE with hot sun (more UV) - people with air conditioning can totally avoid the benefits of UV
• Low Vitamin D – 2X more likely to have premie AND mother later to have heart problems – Feb 2015

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Increased pre-term birth if black or if high UV index (stay inside - away from the hot sun)

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IU for infants

• Third study found that Infants needed 1600 IU of vitamin D – JAMA RCT May 2013
• 400 IU vitamin D for breastfed - American Association of Pediatrics - Feb 2012
• Intervention of 400 IU of vitamin D raised infant blood levels 14 ng – Jan 2012
• French Society of Paediatics Vitamin D recommendations – Jan 2012 breastfed infants: 1000 to 1200 IU
• One study gave infants 50,000 IU very two months (833 IU /day) note: This is too long of a time between doses,
• Hypothesis at VitaminDWiki: infant Jaundice and vitamin D
• Recommend 100 IU of vitamin D per kg of infant weight in Poland – July 2011 has a graph
• Only about 10 % of breastfed infants get even the minimum recommended vitamin D – April 2010
• Infants getting 200 IU (1400 IU vitamin D weekly) grew better – May 2011
• Breastfed infants in Germany with 250 IU of vitamin D got to 56ng – Sept 2010
• Infants getting 500 IU achieved 60 ng vitamin D in blood – Jan 2011 RCT
• Infants in Finland who got 2000 IU vitamin D daily grew to normal height – March 2011
  excellent proof that a lot of vitamin D does not harm - the only outcome appears to be a huge decrease in diabetes as the cohort got older
• Infants do not tolerate some brands of Vitamin D – additives, color, etc

Low Levels among mothers and infants

Chart from Grassroots Health May 2016

• All items in Infant and child and Vitamin D 853 items
• Infants lacking vitamin D supplementation were 19X more likely to be deficient – April 2012
• 80 % of South Asian Women in UK had less than 10 ng of vitamin D in winter – April 2012
• Mothers and infants in India have very low levels of vitamin D – April 2012
  95 % of mothers had < 20 ng of vitamin D
• 90 % of Indian mothers and infants had less than 20 ng of vitamin D – May 2011
• Low D in developing countries – less than 5 ng in some children in China – Oct 2010
• Percent of populations with less than 20 ng of vitamin D graph of a great many countries with low vitamin D levels
• 82% of pregnant in Southern US were vitamin D insufficient – Sept 2010
• CDC vitamin D statistics for women – March 2012 which has
  Women with less than 20 nanograms: +37% average for all women, 55% if less than high school education, 78% if black

Preeclampsia

• 2X more preeclampsia when vitamin D less than 30 ng, etc. - meta-analysis March 2013
• Preeclampsia and small infants associated with 7 ng less vitamin D – Mar 2011
• How to reduce preeclampsia - May 2011
• Eclampsia 2X more frequency in Swedish winter – Jan 2011
• Pre-eclampsia3X more likely if low vitamin D at 25 week – April 2012
• Preeclampsia Vitamin D Council, March 2013

Infants

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Finland had recommended a huge amount of vitamin D for the infant:

20X more than US standard - Wagner April 2010 slide 31

• Pre-Birth Vitamin D Levels Determine Your Health for Life - Kerri Knox

Fewer than 40% of infants got 400 IU of vitamin D, The amount recommended by American Academy of Pediatrics

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A June 2010 study which includes the following graph, found that MANY children do not even get 200 IU

and NONE of the children got more than 480 IU

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Note: When infant stops drinking vitamin D fortified milk, be sure to supplement with vitamin D - as most fruit juice is not fortified.

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Rickets/Battered Child/Weak bones

• Overview of Rickets and Vitamin D
• See all items in category Rickets in VitaminDWiki 127 items
• Rickets in 30 % of infants in India who had low vitamin D – March 2011
• Death of Babies in UK due to vitamin D deficiency – Jan 2012
• Turkey gave 400 IU vitamin D to needy infants and reduced Rickets by 60X - 2011
• Dark Skinned babies probably need vit D supplements to prevent rickets -2001
• Death of Babies in UK due to vitamin D deficiency – Jan 2012
• Mother and father on trial for infant death – set free – death was due to rickets – Dec 2011
• Mercola March 2011
  lack of vitamins C, D, or K is mistaken for shaken baby syndrome
• Your vitamin D deficient infant could be taken away from you – Sept 2010
  The above item from the Vitamin D council includes the following quotes:
    "1/4 of all otherwise normal infants have evidence of infantile rickets while they are still in the womb."
     "... it is likely that tens of thousands of infants are being sent home from the hospital with multiple fractures because no one has ever done a study looking for asymptomatic fractures."
• Mercola Dec 2010 man acquitted of beating his 3 month old - after 14 months of being kept away from his child
• Vitamin D and infants- Dec 2010 see page 10+ for battered child
• Vitamin D Levels in Kids are So Low that Rickets is Back with a Vengeance – Kerri Knox

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High risk of being vitamin D deficient during pregnancy

Potential high risk if : dark skin, twins, recent pregnancy, smoking, very far from equator, obese, excessive clothes,

• Dark skin births are much riskier due to lack of vitamin D
• Assess your level of vitamin D deficiency - especially if dark skin, far from equator, medical condition, ..
• Black = 97% Hispanic = 81%, White = 67% Pregnant women vitamin D insufficient – July 2010
• Overview of Obesity and Vitamin D Obese people have significantly lower levels of vitamin D
• Should consider loading up on vitamin D very early in the pregnancy if high risk of vitamin D deficiency
  Typical loading dose: 300,000 IU spread over 2 months
• Low cost tests   instant free test to see if anyone is extremely low on vitamin D
• Twins, no tan, winter, and smoking all associated with low levels of vitamin D during pregnancy – Jan 2013

BEFORE: Help getting pregnant - woman & man

Vitamin D increases the fertility of BOTH the woman.and the man
Each 1 ng increase in blood level of vitamin D increases clinical pregnancy by 6%
You may not have heard much about it since it has been patented
   see also Who said vitamin D could not be patented
Vitamin D has been used by zoos and vets for a long time to increase fertility

• Vitamin D and fertility: a systematic review – May 2012 great diagrams
• All items in category Fertility 142 items
• How 60 ng of vitamin D enabled pregnancy - a personal story in VitaminDWiki
• 63% having conception problems were Vitamin D deficient
  100% of those which specific problems had normal vitamin D level
• More details on the above information from Natural-Fertility-Info.com
• Vitamin D: The Wonder Vitamin That May Help Me Conceive IVF
• The men also need vitamin D- Dr. Sorenson, author of Vitamin D3 and Solar Power
• Vitamin D Boosts IVF Success
• Peak months for births in Czech Republic were March to May - 9 months after peak vitamin D blood levels
• Better sperm if have higher level of vitamin D - has lots of details and links
• Vitamin D and fertility and birth problems with dark skin – Jan 2011
• Fertility improved with Vitamin D – systematic review Jan 2012
• Clinical Trial vitamin D levels and IVF success – May 2011 good overview
• Oral contraceptive use associated with higher levels of vitamin D – thesis June 2012
• IVF 4X more successful for white women with lots of vitamin D – Oct 2012
  Wonder if high levels of vitamin D after stopping oral contraceptives result in increased chance of pregnancy
• Clinical Trials Search intervention and (pregnancy OR infants OR babies) and"vitamin d"180 intervention trials as of May 2018
• Reproductive endocrinology: Vitamin D and AMH levels are correlated in human adults May 2012, no abstract
  AMH provides a good indication of number of eggs left (fertility)

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Decrease in C-sections as Vitamin D levels are increased

C-section 4X more likely if less than 20 ng of vitamin D – May 2012
Risk of Cesarean 2X higher if low vitamin D – April 2012
C-section 4X more likely when vitamin D less than 37 ng – many items
Search VitaminDWiki for cesarean 90 items as of Aug 2014

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21 Depression and Pregnancy studies

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See also VitaminDWiki

• Gestational Diabetes reduced 40 percent by 5,000 IU of vitamin D – RCT April 2014
• Overview Deficiency of vitamin D
• Overview Women and Vitamin D
• All items in Women and vitamin D 196 items
• Smoking while pregnant lowers vitamin D and increases child asthma by 3.6 X – Aug 2011
• Dark skin births are much riskier due to lack of vitamin D
• Doctors in the UK, who are pro-vitamin D, think that pregnancy and infants are some "low hanging fruit'
• Diseases correlated to month of birth – 2008
• Vitamin D Recommendations from around the world
• Why vitamin D has gotten so low in last 40 years
• So many forms of vitamin D are available at very low cost
  tiny soft-gel, oil, sublingual etc.

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6400 IU of vitamin D got mothers to 50+ nanograms

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Some Pregnancy complications if low vitamin D

From 3 to 55 X more likely to have these health problems if low Vitamin D
7 X more likely to have low birth weight infant
5 X more likely to get vaginosis during pregnancy
4 X more likely to have preeclampsia during pregnancy
4 X more likely to have C-section

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Good review of prenatal Vitamins (more than just Vitamin D) - April 2024

Examine.com

• "However, it’s important not to exceed the recommended daily intake during pregnancy, as higher doses of certain vitamins and minerals may be harmful to the fetus (e.g., iron, folic acid, zinc)"
• "These may encompass vitamins vitamin B1, vitamin B2, B3, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, C, D, E, and K, along with folic acid, iodine, magnesium, iron, copper, zinc, selenium, and sometimes additional components like omega-3."
  • VitaminDWiki: Vitamin D is at least 100 X better than Folic Acid

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See also web

• Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System CDC
  
• Clinical Trials for Pregnacy with vitamin D INTERVENTION 75 as of July 2017
• Pharmacokinetics of a single oral dose of vitamin D3 (70,000 IU) in pregnant and non-pregnant women Dec 2012
  PDF is attached at the bottom of this page
• Vitamin D Supplementation During Pregnancy: Is It Necessary? Medscape Sept 2013
  Nope maternal 25(OH)D levels in any trimester failed to significantly affect the bone-mineral content of offspring
  They fail to consider anything other than bone content at age 10!!
• Google Sites on Vitamin D and pregnancy Oct 2013 included links to the following
  Vitamin D may be useful as immunotherapy in treatment of recurrent miscarriage
  Vitamin D reduces inflammation associated with miscarriage
  4000 IU Vitamin D daily lowers rates of infection, preterm labor and preterm birth
  Vitamin D required for fetal development; deficiency causes preeclampsia, gestational diabetes
  Vitamin D levels not associated with fertility or pregnancy outcome except late miscarriage
  Plasma vitamin D concentrations may affect pregnancy outcomes.
  Low vitamin D leads to failed IVF attempts
  Having sufficient vitamin D levels is associated with 4 times higher success rate in IVF
  93% of infertile women were low in vitamin D
  High or low vitamin D associated with lower sperm count, motility and morphology
  High vitamin D levels associated with higher sperm motility and morphology
  Extra vitamin D increases litter size in pigs and has a trend toward higher pregnancy rates
  Vitamin D deficiency leads to fewer offspring in mice
  Vitamin D deficiency impairs egg production, elevates LH and FSH
  Vitamin D stimulates estrogen and progesterone production by the placenta
  Vitamin D stimulates progesterone and estrogen production in the ovary
  Excess Vitamin D reduces the function of the corpus luteum and decreases progesterone
• Effect of Vitamin D Levels on Intrapartum Epidural Consumption Oct 2014 presentation
  12 mg of Epidural for average vitamin D = 41 ng,
  18 mg of Epidural for average vitamin D = 26 ng
  Much less pain among the 93 women who had high levels of vitamin D.
  Note that scheduled cesareans were excluded from the analysis

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Placenta

The Placenta, an Afterthought No Longer New York Times Dec 2018

• "An ephemeral organ, long dismissed merely as afterbirth, increasingly is viewed as critical to understanding the health and course of pregnancy."
• "Ninety percent of the placenta is made up of cells not from the mother but from the fetus."
• "As the placental beachhead grows, its cells specialize to do the work of heart, lungs, liver and kidneys until the fetus can fend for itself. Groups of cells exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide; provide nutrients and hormones; protect the fetus from harmful stress, germs and chemicals; and remove waste"
• "Male fetuses typically are larger than females throughout gestation, but they also have higher rates of spontaneous abortions, stillbirth, premature birth and neurodevelopmental conditions."
  •  Download the NYT PDF (without hyperlinks) from VitaminDWiki

Human Placenta Project
Previously had studied placenta after birth.
Now studying the placenta as early as 1st trimester - to detect and hopefully avoid problems

Short url = http://is.gd/dpregnancy