Vitamin Information Center

BABIES are healthier if their mothers are pregnant with them over summer, according to research.

Researchers said babies with softer skulls were more likely to have been in the womb over winter - because their mothers lacked enough vitamin D, which is absorbed from sunlight.

Dr Tohru Yorifuji from the Kyoto University Hospital said his team’s study of more than 1100 newborns in Japanese hospitals revealed that pregnancies over winter could lead to problems in babies.

“Craniotabes, the softening of skull bones, in otherwise normal newborns has largely been regarded as a physiological condition without the need for treatment,” Dr Yorifuji said.

“Our findings, however, show that this untreated condition may be the result of a potentially dangerous vitamin D deficiency.”

In an article to be published in the May edition of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, the researchers said 22 per cent of babies studied had craniotabes.

“The incidence was highest in (babies) born in April-May and lowest in those born in November,” the researchers said.

“Otherwise, the incidence of craniotabes was not significantly related with the maternal age, number of pregnancies, birth weight, or weeks of pregnancies.”

Dr Yorifuji said mothers should also be concerned about how much vitamin D their baby needed while feeding.

“Until more research is done on the effects of perinatal vitamin D deficiency, we suggest treating breast-fed infants with craniotabes with vitamin D, or preferably, treating all pregnant women with vitamin D.”

A lack of vitamin D in adults has previously been linked to increased risks of multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes and other diseases.

Infants who get vitamin D supplements have a lower risk of getting type 1 diabetes, a small study suggests.

The study was not a clinical trial. Researchers Christos S. Zipitis, MBChB, of NHS Foundation Trust, and Anthony K. Akobeng, MBChB, combined data from five studies that looked for differences between kids who got type 1 diabetes and kids who did not.

The combined data suggest that giving infants vitamin D supplements cuts their risk of type 1 diabetes by 29%.

It’s not clear how vitamin D might fight diabetes. However, Zipitis and Akobeng note that insulin-making beta cells in the pancreas are sensitive to vitamin D.

Moreover, the body makes vitamin D in response to sunlight on the skin. The researchers note that infants in wintry Finland are 400 times more likely than a child in sunny Venezuela to have childhood diabetes.

The researchers note that randomized clinical trials will be needed to determine whether vitamin D truly helps prevent diabetes.

Pediatricians already recommend vitamin D supplements for children to prevent rickets. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all infants, including those who are exclusively breastfed, have a minimum intake of 200 IU of vitamin D per day during the first two months of life. After that, daily intake of 200 IU of vitamin D per day is recommended throughout childhood and adolescence.

Zipitis and Akobeng report their findings in the online edition of Archives of Diseases in Childhood.

We can get the vitamins and minerals our body needs by eating a balanced, varied and colourful diet.

But there is one vitamin that we can make ourselves, simply by exposing our skin to sunlight.

Vitamin D is made in the skin after interaction with UVB rays and plays a vital role in the build up of bone density.

The importance of vitamin D extends further – it affects immune function, helping to avoid colds and flu and it protects against cancer and the development of diabetes.

A recent study by experts at Harvard Medical School has added to the evidence that a low vitamin D status is linked to an increased risk of heart disease.

Vitamin D may also help regulate blood pressure and be involved in reducing inflammation.

The amount of vitamin D made by our skin depends primarily on the amount of sunlight, which, in turn, depends on:

The latitude we live at – the south has the advantage over the north

The season – summer wins over winter

The time of day – mid-day comes out tops.

Vitamin D production also decreases as we age – it is slower in dark-skinned people and is lower in obese people as vitamin D is thought to be stored in fat, which makes it less readily available.

To ensure our vitamin D levels are kept topped up we need to get out more, whatever the weather as it doesn’t have to be bright sunshine.

By exercising at the same time we will doubly benefit our hearts.

It pays to create opportunities – walk to work, alight from the bus a couple of stops earlier, walk the kids to school, go for a lunchtime walk, get out at the weekend to garden, bike or hike.

Remember not to cover up too much, just leave some skin exposed so that you can actually restore those vitamin D levels.

As springtime sunrays strengthen, 10 to 15 minutes uncovered or with a low sunscreen factor before 11am and after 3pm could be enough to boost our vitamin D status without tanning or burning.

Sunlight is the cheapest way to top up your vitamin D but there are a few foods that contain vitamin D:

Oily fish such as sardines, fresh tuna, salmon, trout, mackerel and kippers – eating two portions of oily fish a week will also provide you with heart-healthy omega 3 fats

Eggs and shiitake mushrooms

Cod liver oil

Fortified breakfast cereals.

For more information and advice about healthy living, contact Heart Research UK on 0113 297 6206 or email lifestyle@heartresearch.org.uk

By Sandi Doughton

The Seattle Times

February 24, 2008 6:00 AM

Dreary northern winters are infamous for inducing depression. But being starved for sunlight can do more than kick you into a psychic hole.

A growing body of evidence suggests it can raise your risk of cancer, increase susceptibility to heart attack, diabetes and other disorders, and at least partly account for the region’s sky-high rates of multiple sclerosis.

The reason is vitamin D, an essential nutrient produced in abundance by skin exposed to the sun’s rays. Long dismissed as being important mainly for strong bones, the so-called sunshine vitamin is now recognized as a key player throughout the body, including the immune system. Continue Reading…

Vitamin D is often called the “sunshine” vitamin. It’s been in the news lately because many researchers are concerned about the adequacy and protective factors of the current recommended intake.

First, what is Vitamin D? It’s one of the fat soluble vitamins (the others are A, E and K) found in food or made by the body after exposure to UV rays from the sun. It exists in several forms, each with a different level of activity. The most active form of vitamin D is Calciferol. The liver and kidneys help convert Vitamin D to its active hormone form. So this is how it works:
Continue Reading…

Researchers at The Rockefeller University Hospital have begun a clinical study to explore a possible connection between vitamin D deficiency and insulin resistance.

The hypothesis, that raising blood vitamin D levels in an obese, insulin-resistant population will improve the subjects? ability to metabolize sugar, could have eventual implications for patients with type 2 diabetes and their doctors.
Continue Reading…

Are vitamin pills good for you or not? Forty years ago, I was taught in medical school that they were useless, because you got all the vitamins you needed in a typical diet. What my teachers meant was that you got enough of the vitamins in your diet to prevent well-recognized vitamin-deficiency diseases. For example, you got more than enough vitamin C in your diet to prevent the disease called scurvy. Continue Reading…

The so-called sunshine vitamin is poised to become the nutrient of the decade, if a host of recent findings are to be believed. Vitamin D, an essential nutrient found in a limited number of foods, has long been renowned for its role in creating strong bones, which is why it is added to milk.

Stuart Bradford

Now a growing legion of medical researchers have raised strong doubts about the adequacy of currently recommended levels of intake, from birth through the sunset years. The researchers maintain, based on a plethora of studies, that vitamin D levels considered adequate to prevent bone malformations like rickets in children are not optimal to counter a host of serious ailments that are now linked to low vitamin D levels.
Continue Reading…

MADISON —A person’s ability to fight disease, build muscle and prevent broken bones may all hinge on how much vitamin D the body receives and produces. But new research published in the Wisconsin Medical Journal (Volume 106, No. finds residents of the dairy state are vitamin D deficient. Continue Reading…

BOSTON — Life on our planet requires sunlight to survive. And most organisms work hard to get it. Jungle reptiles often compete with each other to find the highest, warmest surfaces for sunbathing. Rain-forest plants race to fill rare, sunny openings in the thick canopy left by fallen trees. And some flowers even bend their stems to follow the sun’s movement across the sky. Continue Reading…