Mothers who take plenty of vitamin D during pregnancy have babies with stronger muscles
- Toddlers whose whose mothers took vitamin D during their pregnancy had stronger grips and greater muscle mass
- University of Southampton researchers said links between maternal vitamin D and offspring muscle strength could have consequences for later health
Children are likely to have stronger muscles if their mothers had a higher level of vitamin D in their body during pregnancy
Mothers-to-be with high levels of vitamin D have stronger children, scientists have found.
In a study of almost 700 English mothers and their children, they found that the more of the so-called sunshine vitamin a woman had in her blood during pregnancy, the stronger her child’s grip at the age of four.
It is thought that vitamin D has an effect on the way muscle fibres grow in the womb, helping them to work harder in later life.
people with strong muscles have been shown to be less susceptible to
debilitating falls and fractures in old age, and have more protection
Nicholas Harvey, of Southampton University, said the research published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism added to evidence that showed the seeds for the diseases that plague the elderly are sown early in life.
Although vitamin D is found in oily fish and other foods, it is mostly created by our bodies when our skin is exposed to sunlight.
British climate means many people struggle to make enough of it, and
pregnant women are advised to take daily supplements.
But around a third of white women and up to 90 per cent of black and Asian women in England have low levels during pregnancy.
Dr Harvey and fellow researcher Dr Rebecca Moon used data from a long-running health study in Southampton to compare the vitamin D levels of pregnant women with how tightly their children could squeeze a pressure sensor at the age of four.
British researchers found that by the age of four, children whose mothers took vitamin D during their pregnancy had stronger grips and greater muscle mass
PREGNANCY AND VITAMIN D
All pregnant and breastfeeding women are advised to take a daily vitamin D supplement of 10 micrograms.
Vitamin D regulates the amount of calcium in the body, which helps to keep bones and teeth strong and healthy, as well as providing a baby with enough vitamin D in their first months.
All pregnant and breastfeeding women, particularly teenagers and young women, are at risk of vitamin D deficiency.
The people most at risk are those who spend long periods inside without much sunlight and people of South Asian or Caribbean descent as darker skin foes not produce as much vitamin D in response to sunlight.
Source: NHS Start4Life
said increased strength at four was likely to have positive
consequences decades later because strong children tend to grow into
The importance of vitamin D in pregnancy is underlined by another study that found children born to women with low levels had weaker bones as adults. Muscles also play a role in regulating hormones, so less muscle raises the risk of diabetes.
Vitamin D is known to be essential to bone health and the Government advises mothers-to-be to take ten micrograms a day.
research is one of a growing number of studies to credit vitamin D with
benefits beyond boosting bone health.
These include helping to ward off Alzheimer’s, keeping the heart healthy and prostate cancer under control and preventing multiple sclerosis.
Greater muscle strength observed at four years of age in children born to mothers with higher vitamin D levels could one day help to reduce the burden of illness associated with loss of muscle mass in old age. All pregnant and breastfeeding women are advised to take a daily vitamin D supplement (pictured) of 10 micrograms