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Date: | Wed, 2 Oct 2013 07:23:28 -0400 |
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One of my favorite topics....
I'm generally able to get a smidgen about Vitamin D and the importance
thereof in just about any course I teach, which are all to health
professionals. One of my questions is, "how many of you have had your Vitamin D levels
tested?" The answers are appalling! Perhaps 10 - 20% of the participants
will have had it done, and of those, the vast majority say they are "low"
though often (usually) they don't know what the numbers are.
Then I share with them the wonderful article and study done by Henry Ford
Hospital in Detroit on over 2800 pregnant women over a 2 year period of
time, all ethnic groups included, to find that the median level was 14 ng/dL.
And yet ACOG says there is no compelling reason to test all pregnant women
for Vit D levels. But we are going to automatically supplement all babies
because we know the breastmilk is low.... (which is true -- but why aren't
we worrying about the mothers and their health???)
My co-worker in LEC lives in NC. She is outside every day walking the
dog. She works only part time at the hospital. She never wears sunscreen,
and her initial levels were 15. I live in the Chicagoland area and don't
have a dog so am rarely outside. My initial level was 30. My husband's was
32. Since going on supplementation, my osteopenia has disappeared and I've
not had a cold lasting longer than 2 or 3 days in the last 4 years.
I talk to all my mothers about it -- why they should increase the amount
they are taking (the 400 IU in the prenatal vitamins doesn't even meet the
IOM recommendations of 600 IU/day for everyone from 13 months to 70 years of
age....doncha love it? Same amount of Vit D for an Caucasian infant of 15
months, 18 pounds living in FL as a 250 pound, 42 year old dark-skinned
gentleman living in Bangor, Maine).
Off the soapbox -- but just briefly....
Jan Barger, RN, MA, IBCLC, FILCA
Wheaton IL -- Lactation Education Consultants
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