The theme of vitamin D in all population and lactating women and breastfed children is discussed in depth in this ABM article: http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/bfm.2008.9984 by Wagner, Taylor and Hollis.
Abstract
Vitamin D has emerged from obscurity, and its effects on various organ systems throughout the body down to the cellular level are being discovered. What was once thought to be a simple hormone affecting only bone and calcium metabolism has shifted. We no longer see vitamin D as a “vitamin” important only in childhood, but as a complex hormone that is involved not only in calcium homeostasis but also in the integrity of the innate immune system. Vitamin D deficiency is linked to inflammatory and long-latency diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, tuberculosis, diabetes, and various cancers, to name a few. In this review, we trace how we came to view vitamin D and how that view led to one of the largest epidemics of nutrient deficiency beginning in the late 20th century. We then discuss the needs of vitamin D in the context of the breastfeeding
mother and her infant and child, why breastfed infants are particularly at risk, and what to do about it.---
I found it very usefull to further my understanding of this subject.
Warmly,
Gonneke, IBCLC, retired LLLL, MOM in southern Netherlands
--- On Mon, 4/6/09, Susan Burger <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: Susan Burger <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [LACTNET] Where the presumptions come from
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Monday, April 6, 2009, 1:33 PM
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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