1. It Starts in the Womb!
Everyone thinks about bone mass and osteoporosis in older people, but it really starts in the womb. Researchers in the UK studied pregnant women in 1991-1992 and then again, along with their kids, 9 years later. They found that low vitamin D level during late pregnancy was associated with low bone mass in their kids at age 9. This was especially noticeable in the offspring of mothers whose third trimester was during the winter. Only 2 conditions predicted the mothers’ levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (the value followed in blood tests)—estimated UV-B exposure and the use of vitamin D supplements. The higher your bone density in early adulthood, the slower the decline into osteoporosis and fracturing as we age.

2. The Womb Goes Both Ways!
It has been suggested that Vitamin D plays an important role in the cross-talk between the mother and the fetus. Much of the focus has been on the fetus, but we can also see how vitamin D deficiency affects the mother. Placentas have the enzyme that converts vitamin D into its active form. Women with pre-eclampsia have low levels of this active hormone and reduced enzyme activity in their placentas. The common treatment for pre-eclampsia and the seizures that can accompany it is treatment with magnesium. Interestingly, magnesium increases levels of the active vitamin D. A British study showed that supplementation with high doses of vitamin D was associated with a 31% lower incidence in the development of pre-eclampsia. In fact, women who received vitamin D supplementation regularly during their first year of life had a 50% lower chance of developing pre-eclampsia when they became pregnant later on in their lives.

3. Even in the Mediterranean, Mother's Milk is Vitamin D Deficient!
Breast milk alone can meet a baby's nutrient needs for 6 months.that is, except for vitamins D and K. Researchers found, that despite all the wonderful sunlight in Greece, a high percentage of mothers and their full-term newborns or exclusively breast-fed infants were vitamin D deficient, even those born in the summer months. Similar data was observed in France and Italy. The belief that vitamin D deficiency among young kids (<24 months) exists only at extreme latitudes is clearly not true. The resurgence of vitamin D deficiency in newborns is, in part, due to the campaign to exclusively breastfeed. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that North American infants get at least 200 units of vitamin D per day. In Canada this minimum is raised to 400 units per day during winter. But is this minimum dose the best dose? Read on..

4. Beyond Bones -- Infants Can Be Programmed to Avoid Diabetes!
Finland, because of its extreme northern latitude, is deprived of UV-B sunlight and has become very pro-active in managing vitamin D deficiency with supplements across the life span. Beginning with children born in 1966 and collecting data in 1997, researchers found that infants getting 2000 units of Vitamin D per day (200 units/day is the recommended daily allowance in the US) had an 80% lower chance of developing insulin dependent, or Type 1, diabetes. Children suspected of having rickets during the first year of life (severe vitamin D deficiency) were 3 times more likely to get type 1 diabetes. We now know that this form of juvenile diabetes is an auto-immune disease and recent studies show that vitamin D is an important modulator of the immune system.