MAY 4, 2009 — Vitamin D insufficiency is linked to asthma severity, according to the results of a cross-sectional study reported in the May
1 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Medscape.com reported this week that the connection is associated with maternal vitamin D levels — an aspect of vitamin D deficiency that is gaining greater attention. Researchers now believe that mothers who are vitamin D deficient deliver babies who are vitamin D deficient — a deficiency that appears to be related to sun avoidance in the past generation. The amount of vitamin D intake for a mother to pass vitamin D onto a fetus and a newborn in breast milk now appears to be significantly higher — perhaps 6,000 IU/day – than any source other than sun exposure can deliver.

“Maternal vitamin D intake during pregnancy has been inversely associated with asthma symptoms in early childhood,” write Erick Forno, from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues. “However, no study has examined the relationship between measured vitamin D levels and markers of asthma severity in childhood.”

To read the Medscape.com story click here.