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February 13th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda MONDAY, Feb. 13 (HealthDay News) — Pregnant women with low
levels of vitamin D may be putting their children at risk for language
difficulties, Australian researchers report.
Taking vitamin D supplements during pregnancy may relieve the problem,
they suggest.
“Adequate vitamin D levels among pregnant women may be important for
the optimal development of their baby,” said lead researcher Andrew
Whitehouse, an associate professor and reader in developmental
psychopathology at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research at the
University of Western Australia. “However, it is important for the
findings of this study to be replicated before any strong conclusions are
made.”
Vitamin D levels among pregnant women have decreased steadily over the
past 20 years, most likely because of less exposure to sunlight,
Whitehouse said.
“The effects of lower maternal vitamin D levels on the developing
offspring is not fully understood,” he said. “The current study found that
women with vitamin D insufficiency during pregnancy have an increased risk
of having a child with developmental language difficulties.”
The report was published in the Feb. 13 online edition of
Pediatrics.
For the study, Whitehouse’s team looked at vitamin D levels in more
than 700 pregnant women. They also measured their children’s behavior at
ages 2, 5, 8, 10, 14 and 17.
In addition, the researchers measured language development when the
children were ages 5 and 10.
The researchers found that vitamin D levels during pregnancy had no
effect on behavioral or emotional problems of the children.
However, there were significant differences in language development
among children whose mothers had low levels of vitamin D during
pregnancy.
Language difficulties increased twofold for children whose mothers had
the lowest level of vitamin D, compared with children whose mothers had
normal levels of vitamin D, Whitehouse’s group found.
“The findings suggest that there may be a link between maternal vitamin
D levels during pregnancy and offspring neurodevelopment,” Whitehouse
said.
However, while the study uncovered an association between the expectant
mothers’ vitamin D levels and their children’s language development, it
did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
“If vitamin D insufficiency during prenatal life is a cause of
childhood language difficulties — and this still needs to be determined
conclusively — then vitamin D supplementation of pregnant women may be an
important next step,” he said.
Dr. Jennifer Wu, an obstetrician/gynecologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in
New York City, thinks that vitamin D is important for pregnant women.
“Women should get their vitamin D levels checked. We would like to
correct these deficiencies before pregnancy,” she said.
“Luckily, most [pregnant] women are on a prenatal vitamin and it
contains 1,200 international units (IU) of vitamin D, so most women are
supplemented throughout pregnancy,” Wu added.
Women who are deficient in vitamin D may need as much as 10,000 IU a
day, she said.
“If you are starting to try to get pregnant, you should start your
prenatal vitamin,” Wu said. “It has a lot of good things in it that will
be onboard when you get pregnant.”
Another expert, Dr. Michael F. Holick, a professor of medicine,
physiology and biophysics at Boston University School of Medicine, noted
that vitamin D deficiency increases the risk for preeclampsia (a condition
marked by increased blood pressure and protein in the urine during
pregnancy) and the need for a cesarean delivery.
“So, I am not surprised that developmental issues are also a concern
for fetuses that are developing in a vitamin D-deficient state,” he
said.
“Pregnant women should be increasing their vitamin D intake to levels
recommended by the Endocrine Society, which is 1,500 to 2,000 IU a day,”
Holick said.
More information
For more on vitamin D, visit the U.S.
National Institutes of Health.
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