Pregnancy supplements call

Monday July 5th, 2010

Supplements of a sunlight-linked vitamin should be "swiftly" reintroduced for pregnant women in Britain, according to experts.

Britain is the only European country that does not recommend a daily supplement of vitamin D, they say.

And as many pregnant women get little exposure to sunlight during the winter, it creates a massive problem of deficiency, according to experts at the Institute of Child Health at University College London.

Vitamin D is created in the body through exposure to sunlight and is associated with bone health.

According to Dr Elina Hypponen, the numbers of pregnant women with vitamin D deficiency are "unacceptably high".

Severe deficiency can threaten the life of a new-born baby, she said.

Writing in the British Journal of Nutrition, Dr Hypponen and Barbara Boucher, of Queen Mary College, University of London, say past evidence suggest pregnant women should take a daily dose of 10g of vitamin D.

Dr Hypponen said: "The incidence of vitamin D deficiency in pregnant women in Britain is unacceptably high, especially during winter and spring.

"This is compounded by a lack of exposure to sunlight and the limitations of an average diet to meet the optimal need.

"Our take on vitamin D supplementation in the UK has seen many changes over the decades and we can see clearly from past experience that a proactive approach to supplementation has coincided with a much lower incidence of deficiency linked diseases such as infantile hypocalcaemia and rickets."

British Journal of Nutrition July 2010

Tags: Childbirth and Pregnancy | Diet & Food | UK News | Women’s Health & Gynaecology

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