Could something as simple as prescribing more vitamin D for expectant mothers result in kids who are smarter at school age? A research team publishing its findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) says, “Yes!”
There have apparently been previous studies that suggested increased fetal vitamin D was associated with improved cognition in kids when they reached school age. But the new study was the first to specifically measure the effect…
What they did
The researchers data-mined the results of the broad-spectrum Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood 2010 RCT conducted from March 4, 2009, to November 17, 2010.
That clinical trial yielded detailed information on clinical trial including 498 children who were ex-amined at three years of age and again at 10 years.
The mothers of half the children in the study were prescribed the standard recommended dose of 400 units per day of vitamin D3 per day. The other half were prescribed the maximum recommended dose of 2,800 units per day.
What they found
The team found clear evidence that the higher dose of D3 during pregnancy was positively associated with visual memory, verbal memory, and flexibility or set shift among offspring measured at age 10 years.
The takeaway
“Globally, vitamin D deficiency is a widespread problem among pregnant women,” the study’s intro-duction notes. Women in less developed countries and/or mothers in developed countries t lower economic levels tend to receive less vitamin D than they should.
“Prenatal vitamin D deficiency has been associated with neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism, attention-deficit disorder, and schizophrenia,” the study report continues. These disorders are associ-ated with impairments in several cognitive areas, including attention and decision-making. And cog-nitive disorders have been associated with lower income and social status in adults.
My take
How hard would it be to ensure all expectant mothers got a sufficiently high dose of D3 during preg-nancy? Aside from the obvious issues surrounding distribution of the stuff, the only other major potential stumbling block would be the cost. This sort of health issue is exactly what the Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation was set up to fund. One hopes Bill will get the message…
~ Maggie J.