Vitamin D more benefit

Vitamin D protects during pregnancy excerpts;

Study finds that deficiency increases risk of preeclampsia
By Thomas H. Maugh II
September 8, 2007

Vitamin D deficiency increases the risk of life-threatening
preeclampsia during pregnancy five-fold, Pennsylvania researchers
reported yesterday.
Some researchers have suspected that low levels of vitamin D
contribute to the disorder, which is characterized by soaring blood
pressure and swelling of the hands and feet, but the new study is the
first to examine its role directly........

.........Preeclampsia affects as many as 7 percent of first pregnancies
and can progress to eclampsia, which produces seizures and often-fatal
complications of the liver, kidneys, lungs, blood and nervous system.
Eclampsia causes 15 percent of maternal deaths during pregnancy and as
many as 70 percent of such deaths in developing countries........

..........
Although most of the women had levels of vitamin D lower than the
optimum level of 80 nanomoles per liter, those who suffered
preeclampsia had significantly lower levels. Women whose levels were
below 37.5 nanomoles per liter had five times the risk of developing
the disorder, the team reported in the Journal of Clinical
Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Surprisingly, "the vast majority" of the women were taking prenatal
vitamins, which contain 200 to 400 international units of vitamin D.

"Experts believe you need to take 1,000 IUs per day to make a dent in
increasing your levels" of the vitamin, Bodnar said, and "that would
certainly be an appropriate recommendation for a pregnant woman."

, Baltimore sun http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/hea...tory?track=rss