Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Apr 12;13(4):e0195368.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0195368. eCollection 2018.

Do all infants need vitamin D supplementation?

Ane Cristina Fayão Almeida  1 , Francisco José Albuquerque de Paula  1 , Jacqueline Pontes Monteiro  1 , Carlos Alberto Nogueira-de-Almeida  2 , Luiz Antonio Del Ciampo  1 , Davi Casale Aragon  1 , Ivan Savioli Ferraz  1
Affiliations

Do all infants need vitamin D supplementation?

Ane Cristina Fayão Almeida et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

A high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (VDD) in children has been observed worldwide, but there are few studies on the nutritional status of vitamin D (VD) in healthy infants. The main cause of deficiency in healthy children is breastfeeding without supplementation and lack or insufficiency of sun exposure. The aims of this study were to determine serum concentrations of 25(OH)D and verify its association with parathyroid hormone (PTH) concentrations and use of VD supplementation in healthy infants aged ≥ 6 to ≤ 24 months attended at two Primary Health Care Units in Ribeirão Preto city, São Paulo, Brazil. A cross-sectional, observational and analytical study was performed in which serum concentrations of 25(OH)D, PTH, alkaline phosphatase (AP), calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P) and albumin were determined in 155 healthy infants. Information on sun exposure, sociodemographic aspects of mothers and clinical and nutritional characteristics of infants were obtained through interviews with responsible infants's legal representatives. Ten infants (6%) presented deficient 25(OH)D serum concentration (≤20ng/ml) and 46 (30%), insufficient (21 to 29ng/ml). No changes in serum P, Ca and albumin concentrations were detected. Only one infant had an increase in PTH serum concentrations. 35% (55/155) of infants had high AP e 40% (22/55) presented insufficient serum concentrations of 25(OH)D but none presented deficient ones. There was a weak association between serum concentrations of 25(OH)D and PTH and an association between serum concentrations of 25(OH)D and P when adjusted for sex, age and BMI. There were no associations between inadequate serum concentrations of 25(OH)D (deficient ou insufficient), sun exposure and VD supplementation. This study found a low prevalence of deficient 25(OH)D serum concentration and high prevalence of insufficient ones which was not associated with changes in serum PTH, AP, P, Ca and albumin concentrations, VD supplementation and the formula volume intake.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Linear association between serum concentrations of 25(OH)D and PTH in healthy infants attended at two Primary Health Care Units in Ribeirao Preto, São Paulo, Brazil, 2014–2015.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Comparison between consumption of infant formula and VD supplementation and serum concentrations of 25(OH)D in healthy infants attended at two Primary Health Care Units (Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil, 2014–2015).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Holick MF. Vitamin D Deficiency. New England Journal of Medicine. 2007;357(3):266–81. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra070553 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Slominski AT, Kim TK, Hobrath JV, Oak ASW, Tang EKY, Tieu EW, et al. Endogenously produced nonclassical vitamin D hydroxy-metabolites act as "biased" agonists on VDR and inverse agonists on RORalpha and RORgamma. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2017;173:42–56. doi: 10.1016/j.jsbmb.2016.09.024 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bouillon R, Carmeliet G, Verlinden L, van Etten E, Verstuyf A, Luderer HF, et al. Vitamin D and human health: lessons from vitamin D receptor null mice. Endocrine reviews. 2008;29(6):726–76. doi: 10.1210/er.2008-0004 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Slominski AT, Kim T-K, Li W, Postlethwaite A, Tieu EW, Tang EKY, et al. Detection of novel CYP11A1-derived secosteroids in the human epidermis and serum and pig adrenal gland. Scientific Reports. 2015;5:14875 doi: 10.1038/srep14875 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Slominski AT, Kim T-K, Li W, Tuckey RC. Classical and non-classical metabolic transformation of vitamin D in dermal fibroblasts. Experimental Dermatology. 2016;25(3):231–2. doi: 10.1111/exd.12872 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types