Vitamin D safe for healthy pregnant women

Friday, 01 July 2011, 01:22 IST
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Washington: Use of vitamin D supplements during pregnancy is safe and effective for healthy women, says a new study. Even at the highest dosage, vitamin D was found to have no adverse effects in such women or their newborns. The team led by Bruce Hollis from the Medical University of South Carolina, used a randomized trial with healthy expectant mothers to discover how varying dosages of daily supplements could safely sustain a circulating vitamin D level. "Vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy remains controversial largely due to severe misconceptions about the potential harm it may cause to the foetus," said Hollis, reports the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. "Surprisingly the scientific debate has made little progress since Dr. Gilbert Forbes made a recommendation of 200 units per day in 1963, which was based on a hunch." Hollis' team monitored the pregnancies of 350 women, who were all 12-16 weeks into gestation. They were randomly assigned to one of three groups, according to a Medical University statement. One group received 400 units of vitamin D per day, the second group received 2,000 units daily and the third received 4,000 units daily. "In our study subjects, a daily dosage of up to 4,000 units of vitamin D was required to sustain normal metabolism in pregnant women," concluded Hollis.
Source: IANS