Too Little Vitamin D May Soften Ba... ( Deficiency could cause even more seri...)

Too Little Vitamin D May Soften Baby's Skull

Date:3/26/2008

Deficiency could cause even more serious troubles later on, study suggests

WEDNESDAY, March 26 (HealthDay News) -- Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy may be linked to a softening of bones in a baby's skull, Japanese researchers report.

They also found that breast-feeding without vitamin D supplementation could prolong the deficiency, which might lead to a risk of serious health problems later in life, including decreased bone density and type 1 diabetes.

"Craniotabes, the softening of skull bones, in otherwise normal newborns has largely been regarded as a physiological condition without the need for treatment. Our findings, however, show that this untreated condition may be the result of a potentially dangerous vitamin D deficiency," Dr. Tohru Yorifuji, of Kyoto University Hospital, said in a prepared statement.

The researchers evaluated 1,120 newborns and found that, at five to seven days of age, 246 (22 percent) of the babies had craniotabes. The researchers also found strong seasonal variations in the incidence of craniotabes. This suggests that the condition is associated with prenatal vitamin D deficiency, and is likely influenced by the amount of sunlight exposure a woman gets during pregnancy. The body produces vitamin D when the skin is exposed to sunlight.

This vitamin D deficiency in newborns may persist into later life, especially in breast-fed infants who don't receive a formula with vitamin D supplementation, the researchers said. More than half the breast-fed infants with craniotabes showed statistically significant low levels of serum 25-OH vitamin D, the storage form of the vitamin. Some of these infants had symptoms of an overactive parathyroid gland, which is also consistent with vitamin D deficiency.

The study appears in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

"Until more research is done on the effects of perinatal vitamin D deficiency, we
'/>"/>

0

GOOD

Page: 1 2
Related medicine news :

1. MRIs high false positive rate has little impact on womens choice of preventive mastectomy
2. Universal Screening for MRSA in Hospitals Made Little Difference
3. Antibiotics Do Little for Inner Ear Infections
4. Two Little Hands Productions, Creators of Popular Childrens TV Series Signing Time, Debuts Second Season at This Years Toy Fair 2008
5. The Clinic at Wal-Mart to Open in Atlanta, Little Rock and Dallas Supercenters
6. FY2009 Budget Increases International Development Funding but Does Little for Domestic Nutrition Programs
7. The pitter patter of little feet... climbing straight up a wall
8. A Little Regular Exercise Extends Mens Lives
9. Drink a Little, Stay Active, Save Your Heart
10. Lack of Strong Thirst Signals Leads Elderly to Drink Too Little
11. $1.4 million grant awarded to study 2 little-understood neurological disorders

Post Your Comments:

Too Little Vitamin D May Soften Ba...( Deficiency could cause even more seri...),Health