The baby’s immunity is formed in the womb. And a woman can “pump” it – easily!
Odes to the “sunny” vitamin are sung all over the world, especially in those regions where the sun is a rare guest. Pediatricians prescribe to babies to drink vitamin D almost from birth and all year round, with the exception of the summer months, when the sun still shines in the sky. This is the ideal prevention of rickets. Vitamin D is essential for the absorption of calcium and phosphorus, in addition, it regulates the functioning of the immune system and prevents nervous disorders.
It can take a long time to enumerate the advantages of the “sun substitute”. And British scientists have found another one. According to them, taking vitamin D during pregnancy, and in a dosage higher than usual, a woman protects her unborn child from asthma.
An important discovery was made by scientists at King’s College London. To do this, they conducted a study in which fifty expectant mothers took part in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Some of them received a standard dose of vitamin – 400 IU, and some as much as 4400 IU. The researchers then took samples of the umbilical cord blood to test the baby’s immune response. It turned out that those mothers who took an increased dose of the vitamin gave birth to babies with more pronounced immunity. And even in the womb, they were able to prevent the risk of developing various bronchopulmonary diseases in newborns.
“For the first time, we have shown that increased doses of vitamin D during pregnancy can effectively alter the immune response of the newborn and help protect the baby from developing asthma,” said Katherine Havrilovich, a senior research fellow at the college.
This is not the end of the scientists’ work. They are going to continue to observe the babies in order to understand how the “sunshine” vitamin will act on children in the future and whether it will really help protect against asthma at a later age.
To recap, the most ideal way to take vitamin D is to spend at least 15 minutes in the sun at least twice a week. And, of course, there are foods that contain it. These are some types of fish such as salmon, tuna and mackerel, as well as cod liver. In addition, for a long time milk producers have been trying to artificially saturate it with this vitamin to prevent rickets.