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Joan Stephenson, PhD

JAMA. 2006;295:748.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Taking vitamin D supplements during pregnancy could improve bone health and reduce the risk of osteoporotic fracture in a woman's offspring, according to a new study by British researchers (Javaid MK et al. Lancet. 2006;367:36-43).

In a longitudinal study involving 198 children born in 1991 or 1992, the researchers found that children born to mothers with deficient levels of vitamin D (<11 µg/L) had significantly lower whole-body and lumbar spine bone mineral content at age 9 years compared with those whose mothers were "vitamin D replete" (>20 µg/L). Children whose mothers took vitamin D supplements and those born during the summer months (when their mothers were exposed to more UV-B radiation, which helps the body make its own vitamin D) had significantly higher bone mineral content.

"Vitamin D insufficiency was a frequent finding in this cohort of white women," noted the authors. "However, vitamin D supplementation . . . [Full Text of this Article]