Vitamin D During Pregnancy May Protect Offspring From Asthma
By Megan Rauscher
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Mar 06 - A higher intake of vitamin D during pregnancy may lower the risk of wheezing and asthma in offspring during early childhood, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in Miami Beach, Florida.
During a press briefing, Dr. Carlos Camargo Jr., of Harvard Medical School in Boston noted that vitamin D deficiency and asthma are both common in the northeastern part of the United States, suggesting that the two may be related. Moreover, while vitamin D has important effects on the immune system, its affect on asthma is not known.
Dr. Camargo's team tracked 1,306 mother-child pairs for more than 3 years, and used a validated food frequency questionnaire to assess maternal vitamin D intake during pregnancy.
By age 2, there was a clear association between increasing maternal vitamin D intake and decreasing risk of wheezing or doctor-diagnosed asthma in the child, Dr. Camargo said.
Mean total vitamin D intake during pregnancy was 550 international units per day. In multivariate analysis, a 100-IU increase in maternal vitamin D intake was associated with an odds ratio of 0.90 for "any wheeze" in the child -- defined as mother-reported wheeze during the first 2 years of life.
"Further adjustment for maternal intake of fruit, vegetables, and fish did not change results," the authors note in meeting materials. "This inverse association was present for vitamin D from either diet or nutritional supplements."
Dr. Camargo also reported that a preliminary look at the 3-year data show a similarly strong association between higher maternal vitamin D intake and lower risk of wheezing and asthma at age 3 years. Continued follow-up is needed to see if the lower risk of wheezing continues as the children grow older, Dr. Camargo said.
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