Vitamin D Study Finds Health Benefits for Newborns

Vitamin D Study Finds Health Benefits for Newborns

One of the most common reasons for the hospitilization of infants is brinchiolitis and other respriatory infections. Researchers are currently studying the link between these ailments and Vitamin D in hopes of bringing some relief to thousands of families each year. The results of their study have recently been published in a recent issue of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

In the study scientists took samples of chord blood from over 900 newborns and analyzed the levels of Vitamin D in the samples. This data gave the researchers information on both the mother and the child. It had been suggested in earlier research data that mothers with higher levels of the vitamin were less likely to have children with the respriatory ailments.

According to the data, by the time the newborns reached the age of three months, those with higher levels of Vitamin D (above 75 nanomoles per liter (nmol/L)) were half a likely to develop breathing problems and those wilth levels below 25 nmol/L.

The sources of the Vitamin D did not seem to be a determining factor. Natural sources of the vitamin include milk, cheese and other dairy products, as well as exposure to sunlight. The researchers are also trying to determine whether vitamin supplements are as good a source as the natural one appear to be.