Maternal vitamin D levels could affect child later in life

The investigators from University of Southampton in the UK suggest that mothers who have a higher intake of vitamin D during pregnancy are more likely to have children with stronger muscles.

Vitamin D is known to help regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the bloodstream, as well as help cells to communicate. Previous research has linked low vitamin D levels to decreased muscle strength in children and adults, but the researchers say there is little knowledge on how a child may be affected by their mother's vitamin D intake during pregnancy. To find out more, the researchers measured the vitamin D levels of 678 pregnant women at 34 weeks gestation. They found that mothers who had high levels of vitamin D had children with a much higher grip strength compared with the children of mothers who had low vitamin D levels.

Muscle strength peaks in young adulthood before declining in older age and low grip strength in adulthood has been associated with poor health outcomes including diabetes, falls and fractures. It is likely that the greater muscle strength observed at 4 years of age in children born to mothers with higher vitamin D levels will track into adulthood, and so potentially help to reduce the burden of illness associated with loss of muscle mass in old age. This work should help us to design interventions aimed at optimizing body composition in childhood and later adulthood and thus improve the health of future generations.