Vitamin D in pregnancy protects against islet autoimmunity

Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 17 Dec 2003 - 0:00 PDT

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Mothers who eat foods high in vitamin D during pregnancy protect their children against islet autoimmunity (IA), a new study indicates.

But the research, published in Diabetes Care, found that vitamin D supplements did not confer the same protection.

The authors followed the children for a mean of 4 years for the appearance of insulin, gestational diabetes mellitus, and IA-2 autoantibodies. Sixteen subjects developed at least one autoantibody during follow-up.

Maternal intake of vitamin D through food was significantly associated with a decreased risk of the appearance of IA in offspring (HR = 0.49).

This association remained significant after adjustment for HLA genotype, family history of type 1 diabetes, presence of gestational diabetes mellitus, and ethnicity (HR = 0.37).

The group of mothers with affected children had an average daily vitamin D intake in food of 167.6 IU, while the group with unaffected children had an average intake of 252.3 IU.

'Interestingly, we did not find an association between vitamin D intake via supplements and IA, which is similar to observations in another epidemiological study,' say the authors

Reference:Fronczak C et al (2003) In Utero Dietary Exposures and Risk of Islet Autoimmunity in Children Diabetes Care 26 (12) 3237-3242

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