Healthy Infants May Have Vitamin D Deficiency

Healty infants could have a vitamin D deficiency, placing them at risk for of rickets and other bones weaknessess, according to a study from researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston.

The study, published this week in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, mirrors the results of a 2004 study at the hospital finding that many healthy teenagers also were vitamin D deficient.

The most recent study looked at 380 infants aged 8 to 24 months who were examined at the Boston hospital. Many lived in urban areas and were selected because they came to have blood drawn.

The study excluded children who had a disease or took medication known to affect vitamin D levels.

The findings showed that 44 of 365 infants had a deficiency and 7 had a severe deficiency. Forty percent of those tested, 146 infants, showed blood levels of vitamin D that fell short of an accepted optimal threshold, which is considered 250HD level of 30 ng/mL.

Some of those with deficiencies showed signs in X-rays of bone weakness. One had Rickets.

Breastfeeding without supplementation was strongly associated with vitamin D deficiency the authors said, representing about a ten fold increase over bottle-fed infants. Milk and sunshine are the primary source of vitamin D.

The study was weakened by including too many patients from populations known to be at greater risk for vitamin D deficiency, the authors noted, as well as too few patients who were breastfed.

The authors conclude that breastfed children should be given a vitamin D supplement.