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Double the "D" Dosage!

  2. jrchel
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CHICAGO (AP) - The country's leading group of pediatricians is recommending that children receive double the usually suggested amount of vitamin D because of evidence that it might help prevent serious diseases.

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

Baby formula contains vitamin D, so infants fed only formula generally do not need supplements. However, the academy recommends breast-feeding for at least the first year of life, and breast milk is sometimes deficient.

Most commercially available milk is fortified with vitamin D, but most children do not drink enough of it; four cups daily would be needed to meet the new requirement, said Dr. Frank Greer, who helped write the report.

The new advice is based on mounting research about potential benefits from vitamin D besides keeping bones strong, including suggestions that it might reduce the risk for cancer, diabetes and heart disease. But the evidence is not conclusive, and there is no consensus on how much of the vitamin would be needed for disease prevention.

The advice replaces a 2003 academy recommendation for 200 units daily. That is the amount the government recommends for people up to age 50; 400 units is recommended for adults ages 51 to 70, and 600 units for those 71 and older. Vitamin D is sold in capsules and tablets, as well as in drops for young children.

The Institute of Medicine, a government advisory group that sets dietary standards, is discussing with federal agencies whether the recommendations should be changed based on the new research, said a spokeswoman, Christine Stencel.

The recommendations were to be released Monday at an academy conference in Boston. They will be published in the November issue of the academy's journal, Pediatrics.

jrchel

10 responses // Double the "D" Dosage!

  •  

    I wonder if anyone will put out reports or an addendum about toxicity or overdose.

    ScratchyPants
  •  

    the upper limit for vitamin d is 2000 units so i wouldn't be worried about toxicity or overdose. also you can get vitamin d just by being out in the sun so that's just another good reason to take you child to the park

    scm23
    1 response to this
  •  

    breast milk is not lacking in vitamin D or anything...it is human milk for human babies!!

    pennyharford
    1 response to this
  •  

    we all know that vitamin C beats vitamin D any day of the week though.

    satanskidney
  •  

    this is the same crap they tried to pull with eggs.

    breathexelectric
  •  

    Cheap solution: class outside. I always knew my 5 grade math teacher was on to something.

    ahowes
  •  

    I am always weary when medical doctors publish anything. They rarely include their methodology and their conclusions about their data can get stetched beyond the reach of their data. At this point I would just make sure that my children have proper diets, they go outside and play, and I would give my child childrens vitamins. But I would not double the dose. Such suggestions are stupid. Any doctor worth the weight of their paper degree would first stress diet and excercise over teaching a child to pop some pills.

    LiketoKnow
  •  

    of course breast milk is best for babies, but human or not, it can include more or less of many nutrients depending on the blood levels of that nutrient in the mother's system, and other factors.
    in the thousands of centuries of our evolution, there was never a time when mothers and their infants got so little direct, unmediated sun as in these centuries of living indoors, driving between destinations, putting on sunscreen, etc.. as a result, our systems did not evolve to produce the vitamin D that had always come from above, and many infants in fact show little D in their blood, and symptoms of even severe deficiency such as beginning rickets can be seen in very young children.

    vitamin d supplementation--or periodic exposure to real, mid-day, warm season sunshine--is a must.

    as to overdose, it is theoretically possible since D is a fat soluble vitamin and not flushed easily from the system, but in the entire history of western medicine viatamin d toxicity is more or less never found. even though in some public health programs children (or adults) are given injections of as much as 50,000 or 100,000 units at a time. it just doesn't happen.
    this confusion is a result of the fact that vit A, often associated with its fat-soluble cousin D, is on the other hand known to accumulate to sometimes damaging and even toxic levels.
    but NOT vit D.
    and anyway, most of us get so little direct sun (cancer scares and all), and eat so little of the few natural sources (oily fish) that we are way, way far from ever facing danger of over dose. just the opposite, in fact.

    b2
    • b2
    • 1 month ago

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