Mother's nutrition is baby's health
According to a study, ample intake of vitamin D during pregnancy ensures stronger bones for the offspring later in life. Vitamin D also reduces the risk of old-age osteoporosis.
"This is completely new - no one has ever looked at the mother's vitamin D levels before," said professor Cyrus Cooper, who conducted this study on 198 mothers over a period of nine years. Children of those mothers who took adequate vitamin D during their pregnancy showed higher calcium content in their bones. Professor Cooper said that it is the vitamin D content of the mother, not the child, which affects the bone strength of the child at a later age.
The body needs vitamin D primarily for calcium absorption, the key to the growth of bones. A rich diet of milk, egg yolk, salt-water fish and liver is more than enough for the body to take care of its vitamin D needs.
Sunlight is the natural and abundant source of this vitamin; 10 – 15 minutes of exposure to sunlight twice a week is adequate for the body to produce the required amount of vitamin D. But it is difficult for the bodies of those who have crossed the fifty-year mark, or have high melanin content in their skin, to generate vitamin D in this manner.
“Vitamin D insufficiency was a frequent finding in this cohort of white women. However, vitamin D supplementation of such mothers, especially when the last trimester of pregnancy occurs during the winter months, could lead to an enhanced peak bone-mineral accrual and a reduced risk of fragility fracture in offspring during later life,” the research team led by Professor Cooper concluded.
Additionally, a pregnant woman's physique, her food intake and habits like smoking affect the bone condition of the child to a large extent.
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