This year in the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the results of a study was published that should leave every pregnant mother feeling a bit more empowered and a bit more inspired to play outside.
After sampling the amount of Vitamin D in the infant’s cord blood and following, the study concluded that Vitamin D deficiency in healthy neonates is associated with increased risk of getting an RSV lower respiratory infection in the first year of life. They went on to suggest that intensified routine vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy may be a useful strategy to prevent RSV during infancy.
Vitamin D is released in our bodies form sun exposure or can be attained by eating certain food or from supplements and has been heralded by the scientific community to prevent and cure a whole slew of things that, as a professional blogger, I’d be skating on thin FDA ice if I mentioned it to you. A simple search through our National Library of Medicine on will reveal all of that though, and I highly encourage you to take a look for yourself.
In the meantime, the RDA of Vitamin D for a pregnant woman is set right at around 600 IUs daily. This recommendation is based on the IOM’s report that suggests that a blood level of 20 (specifically, 20 nanograms per milliliter) of Vitamin D is sufficient for overall good health. But the IOM also determined that the tolerable (safe) limit for Vitamin D could be raised to 4000 IU/day for adults and even stated in their report that an intake of 10,000 IU/day was unlikely to cause harm.
When deciding how much to take, I’d love for you to consider these things:
- A Japanese study found that children taking 1200 IU per day showed a decrease of influenza during the winter (1)
- A Norwegian study found that 20,000 to 40,000 IU/week given for one year reduced depression scores in overweight individuals. (2)
- Dr. Kittles, associate professor of medicine and epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Illinois at Chicago believes a more adequate supply of Vitamin D would be an intake between 1000 and 3000 IU a day for the general population of Americans.
Works Cited:
1) Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 May;91(5):1255-60. “Randomized trial of Vitamin D supplementation to prevent seasonal influenza A in school children.” Urashima M, Segawa T, Okazaki M, Kurihara M, Wada Y, Ida H.
2) Intern Med. 2008 Dec;264(6):599-609.“Effects of Vitamin D supplementation on symptoms of depression in overweight and obese subjects: randomized double blind trial.” Jorde R, Sneve M, Figenschau Y, Svartberg J, Waterloo K.J