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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