In the News - NEW Vitamin D Recommendation

We all know Vitamin D is one of the vitamins that is really good for you. Well, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has just released new guidelines as to the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for children. According to the MSNBC article, Docs double kids' vitamin D recommendations, the nation's leading pediatricians group says children from newborns to teens should get double the usually recommended amount of vitamin D because of evidence that it may help prevent serious diseases.

To meet the new recommendation of 400 units daily, millions of children will need to take daily vitamin D supplements, the American Academy of Pediatrics said. That includes breast-fed infants — even those who get some formula, too, and many teens who drink little or no milk.

Now for an aside. When Willow was exclusively feeding on breast milk, my pediatrician recommended we give her Poly-Vi-Sol, which is a liquid multivitamin and has the recommended 400IU of Vitamin D. Ever since we switched her to whole milk we started the vitamin up again. Formula has all the nutrition that a baby needs so she didn't need a vitamin when that was her sole source of nutrition. However, with breast milk, mom's don't pass on the vitamin D they absorb and it is essential for calcium absorption in your baby. Hence, the recommendation from our pediatrician. Be warned, it smells and tastes completely disgusting. But Willow takes it all in stride. We give her the dropper-full straight up. That way the nastiness is done and she can wash it down with the milk. She opens her mouth for it no problem. I'll be glad when we can switch her to something chewable. If you give your child this vitamin, please don't torture them with "diluting" it in milk. No amount of dilution takes away the nasty nasty taste and getting it over with so they can enjoy their meal is the best advice.

So, what is Vitamin D and what exactly does it do for you? Well, Vitamin D is a group of fat-soluble prohormones, the two major forms of which are vitamin D2 and vitamin D3. The term vitamin D also refers to metabolites and other analogues of these substances. Vitamin D3 is produced in skin exposed to sunlight, specifically ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation.

Vitamin D plays an important role in the maintenance of organ systems.

• Vitamin D regulates the calcium and phosphorus levels in the blood by promoting their absorption from food in the intestines, and by promoting re-absorption of calcium in the kidneys, which enables normal mineralization of bone and prevents hypocalcemic tetany. It is also needed for bone growth and bone remodeling by osteoblasts and osteoclasts.


• Absent vitamin K or with drugs (particularly blood thinners) which interfere with Vitamin K metabolism, Vitamin D can promote soft tissue calcification.


• It inhibits parathyroid hormone secretion from the parathyroid gland.


• Vitamin D affects the immune system by promoting phagocytosis, anti-tumor activity, and immunomodulatory functions.
  

So, why the change in recommendation from the AAP? Well, the new advice is based on mounting research about potential benefits from vitamin D besides keeping bones strong, including suggestions that it might reduce risks for cancer, diabetes and heart disease. But the evidence isn't conclusive and there's no consensus on how much of the vitamin would be needed for disease prevention.<

So, you might be wondering if it's possible to get too much vitamin D. Well, chances are that you can but it's highly unlikely. I was watching Good Morning America this morning and they were talking about this story and the doctor on the program said that that's not something we should be worrying about.

The best source of vitamin D is, of course, the sun. But with the danger of too much exposure to the sun people are lathering up the sunblock and just plain staying out of the sun, as they should. And less time in the sun means less vitamin D produced naturally by your body. According to the article, while it is believed that 10 to 15 minutes in the sun without sunscreen a few times weekly is sufficient for many, people with dark skin and those in northern, less sunny climates need more. Because of sunlight's link with skin cancer, "vitamin D supplements during infancy, childhood and adolescence are necessary," the academy's report says.

Recent studies have shown that many children don't get enough vitamin D, and cases of rickets, a bone disorder often associated with malnourishment in the 1800s, continue to occur.

The report is due out in the November edition of Pediatrics. And while all the evidence that vitamin D could do "this" and improves your likelihood of not getting "that", it's all still being studied by doctors.

And just a personal observation. The people who claim that doctors are "in cahoots" with the drug companies and the like are just plain silly, in my mind. I mean doctors make a career out of saving lives and curing people. And from what I have found, especially when concerning my pediatrician, they always have mine and my daughters best interests foremost in their minds. But then that's just my opinion. I am not a conspiracy theorist but it seems a lot of people are these days...

One more thing...using sunscreen when you go into the sun completely negates the Vitamin D absorption. In order to make Vitamin D, your body needs UVB rays from the sun and those are th kind that sunblock, well, blocks! So, just because your kids go out to play, they may not be getting the vitamin D if you are lathering them up with sunblock (which you should be).