Supplementing the diet with vitamin D during pregnancy is not only safe, but also beneficial for the mother and baby, as it prevents premature births and infections, US scientists said during a meeting of the Pediatricians’ Association in Vancouver, Canada.
In the 50s and 60s, people thought that vitamin D could cause fetal defects, today it is already known that it is important for the health of the mother and baby, supports, among others, the proper condition of the bones and the functioning of the immune system. In contrast, vitamin D deficiency in pregnant women is a serious public health problem. The main causes of vitamin D deficiency are the low content of this vitamin in the diet and too short time spent in the sun (vitamin D is formed in our body from provitamin under the influence of sunlight).
Dr. Wagner and colleagues from the Medical University of South Carolina studied 494 pregnant women to determine the optimal dose of vitamin D for expectant mothers. All participants in the study were between 12 and 16 weeks of pregnancy, they were divided into 3 groups – the first received 400, the second 2000, and the third 4000 units of vitamin D until the day of delivery. Every month the ladies were carefully examined to confirm the safety of vitamin D use.
During the course of the project, no harmful effects of vitamin D were observed. The authors investigated the effect of dietary supplementation with vitamin D on common pregnancy complications such as pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, infections and premature birth.
It turned out that vitamin D significantly reduces the frequency of pregnancy infections and premature births, with the strongest effect observed in women taking 4000 units of vitamin a day – hence the authors of the study recommend that future mothers use this dose throughout pregnancy. (PAP)