Mothers with Higher Levels of Vitamin D During Pregnancy Have Stronger Children

Want a stronger baby? Then you may want to make sure you have higher levels of vitamin D during pregnancy. Scientists have discovered that children were more likely to have stronger muscles if their mothers had a higher level of this vitamin in their bodies during their pregnancies.

In the past, low vitamin D status has been linked to reduced muscle strength in both children and adults. Yet little was known about how variation in a mother's status during pregnancy could affect her child. In order to find out exactly how levels of this vitamin could impact children, the researchers measured vitamin D levels in 678 months during the later stages of pregnancy. Then when these children were four years old, the researchers measured their grip strength and muscle mass.

So what did they find? The scientists discovered that the higher the levels of vitamin D in the mother, the higher the grip strength of the child. In addition, they found that there was a less pronounced association between the mother's vitamin D levels and the child's muscle mass.

"These associations between maternal vitamin D and offspring muscle strength may well have consequences for later health; muscle strength peaks in young adulthood before declining in older age and low grip strength in adulthood has been associated with poor health outcomes including diabetes, falls and fractures," said Nicolas Harvey, one of the researchers, in a news release. "It is likely that the great muscle strength observed at four years of age in children born to mothers with higher vitamin D levels will track into adulthood, and so potentially help to reduce the burden of illness associated with loss of muscle mass in old age."

The findings reveal a bit more about how increasing vitamin D intake could be crucial for a stronger child. Because low vitamin D concentrations can be common among young women, supplements may be necessary.

The findings are published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.