Taking extra vitamin D during pregnancy may improve the bone health of children, according to a new study.
Bone density scans revealed that children of mothers who took Vitamin D supplements during pregnancy had higher levels of calcium and other minerals in their bones by mid-childhood, making their bones stronger and less likely to break.
The researchers from the University of Southampton found that the benefits of Vitamin D supplements could be seen up to seven years after birth.
The findings are published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and highlight the importance of vitamin D supplementation in pregnancy as a public health strategy.
In 2009, the researchers launched the MAVIDOS study and recruited over 1,000 women across three UK hospitals in Southampton, Sheffield, and Oxford. The women were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Starting at 14 weeks gestation, one group took a daily Vitamin D supplement of 1,000 International Units, whilst the second group received a daily placebo tablet throughout the rest of their pregnancies. Both the healthcare professionals and the women were unaware of which group participants were assigned to.
The group’s previous research found that bone mass was greater at age four in children whose mothers had taken Vitamin D supplements during pregnancy. The researchers followed up with 454 of the original cohort of children and conducted bone density measurements between the ages of six and seven.
Dr Rebecca Moon, NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Child Health at the University of Southampton, who led the study, said: ‘Our findings show that the benefits of vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy persist into mid-childhood. This early intervention represents an important public health strategy. It strengthens children’s bones and reduces the risk of conditions like osteoporosis and fractures in later life.’
The researchers involved in the MAVIDOS study have been working to understand the mechanisms linking maternal vitamin D supplementation with offspring bone mass. In 2018, they successfully demonstrated that vitamin D supplementation led to changes in the activity of genes forming part of the vitamin D pathway.
The group’s latest findings reveal that improvements in bone density continue further into childhood than previously understood and strengthen support for the UK’s public health strategy, which now routinely advises all pregnant women to take vitamin D supplements.
