Posted on 11/17/2007 2:17:09 PM PST by blam
Canadians Advocate Boosting Vitamin D in Pregnancy
A Canadian medical society recommends pregnant women and nursing moms boost their intake of vitamin D dramatically
Janet Raloff
Canadian pediatricians certainly aren't shirking controversy when it comes to a vitamin guideline they've developed for pregnant women and nursing moms. They're asking these women to boost their intake of vitamin D dramatically—to 10 times the daily doses advocated by most health organizations in the States. This new prescription is aimed at combating rickets—leg deformations caused by soft bones—in youngsters who get too little of the sunshine vitamin.
EATING FOR TWO. To ensure baby's bones are strong, moms-to-be should boost their vitamin-D intake greatly, Canadian pediatricians contend. Photodisc
Vitamin D helps build strong bones by helping the body absorb calcium. Getting pregnant and nursing women to take more of the vitamin ensures that plenty will reach developing children.
In the past, most people had little trouble getting enough vitamin D—they just went outdoors where ultraviolet rays from the sun trigger chemical reactions in skin to make this vital nutrient. However, some people always had trouble making enough. Canadian kids at highest risk of vitamin deficits generally live in First Nations and Inuit communities. With sun-filtering pigments in their skin, and living at high latitudes, they must glean most of their vitamin D from the diet—generally a poor source—not the sun.
Most North American women—including those in the United States—eat diets delivering only about 100 international units, or IU, of vitamin D daily, according to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), in Washington, D.C. That is half of what IOM recommends and a mere 5 percent of what Canadian pediatricians are now advocating for new and soon-to-be moms.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
Plain old cod liver oil is best.
I thought this was known and recommended for at least 75 years.
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