Low levels of vitamin D in mothers associated with child's body fat

Researchers in the UK have found that children are more likely to have higher levels of body fat during childhood if their mother had insufficient levels of Vitamin D during pregnancy. The study is published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Although insufficient levels of vitamin D have been associated to obesity in children and adults, not much is known regarding how a mother's status affects her child. Even though expectant mothers are advised to take an additional10μg/day of vitamin D throughout pregnancy, at present, supplementation is not routine. Researchers at the Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit (MRC LEU), University of Southampton, compared the vitamin D status of 977 pregnant women with the body composition of their children. The team found that body fat levels at age 6 where higher among children born to mothers who had low vitamin D status during pregnancy. Other factors, such as weight gain in pregnancy, or how physically active the children were, did not explain the differences. Dr Siân Robinson, Principal Research Fellow, at the University, who conducted the study, explained: "In the context of current concerns about low vitamin D status in young women, and increasing rates of childhood obesity in the UK, we need to understand more about the long-term health consequences for children who are born to mothers who have low vitamin D status. Although there is growing evidence that vitamin D status is linked to body fatness in children and adults, this research now suggests that the mother's status in pregnancy could be important too. An interpretation of our data is that there could be programmed effects on the fetus arising from a lack of maternal vitamin D that remain with the baby and predispose him or her to gain excess body fat in later childhood. Although further studies are needed, our findings add weight to current concerns about the prevalence of low vitamin D status among women of reproductive age." Professor Cyrus Cooper, Director of the MRC LEU said: "This is a wonderful example of multi-disciplinary research using the unique clinical and biochemical resource provided by the Southampton Women's Survey. The observations that maternal vitamin D insufficiency might be associated with reduced size at birth, but accelerated gain in body fat during early childhood, add to the considerable amount of evidence suggesting that vitamin D status during pregnancy may have critical effects on the later health of offspring."