Dear all:

The recommendations for vitamin D supplements initially grew out of a group of parents 
who went to the CDC because their breastfed infants developed rickets.  Rickets is 
entirely preventable.  Rickets is only the tip of the iceberg of the problems created by 
sunlight deficiency.  It is a marker for a much larger number of infants who are deficient.

The statistics showed several years ago that there was something over 100 cases of 
rickets in Manhattan and that included white infants.  

There is a public health tug of war in that sunlight also causes skin cancer.  The American 
Cancer Society considers any amount of sunlight to be a risk for skin cancer.

No one has done (and it would be very expensive to do) sufficient research to be able to 
say how much sunlight you would need in every area of the United States for babies to be 
at no or low risk of rickets.  Because there isn't sufficient data to make specific 
recommendations for specific locations and specific groups, the CDC issued a blanket 
recommendation for all infants.

It is a good idea to read the actual recommendations. If I remember correctly, the 
recommendations were to start a two months of age.  At one point, I read the whole 
entire report of the committee convened in response to the parents, and there was a part 
about aspiration of cod's liver oil being a risk. It seems to me that anything fed to an 
infant early on can be a risk if parents aren't careful.  So, I'm not sure if there have been 
any studies on the risk of aspiration with TriViSol and the risk of aspiration with cod's 
liver oil.  

The problem I think is one of profits.  It may not be profitable in the United States to 
design a product that contains only vitamin D that provides the dosage recommended for 
infants.  TriViSol predated the convening of the panel.

On Lactnet we constantly harp on the "industry" research and "industry" products.  We 
constantly complain about why people cave and take money from "industry.  How many 
of us who complain have actually written to our political representatives to ask for MORE 
PUBLIC FUNDS to be put into basic and applied research?  and for MORE PUBLIC FUNDS to 
develop an FDA that IS free of conflicts of interest?  If we want better products and less 
corruption, we need to look at the political structure and try to change it.

In the meantime, I urge you to double check the recommendations on when CDC 
suggested starting the supplements.  It doesn't make sense to me that this should be 
foisted on infants during a period when they are more likely to aspirate and before 
breastfeeding is well established if there is no need to do so.

Best, Susan Burger

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