Vitamin D - more, much more for babies, children; teenagers

Dr Frank Greer (one of the authors of this new recommendation ) , when asked , "How many babies get enough Vitamin D?" answered: "If it's 30 percent, I'd be surprised."

Today the American Academy of Pediatrics said that children of all ages should get much more Vitamin D than they had previously recommended - up from 200 IUs to 400 IUs.

The Pediatricians said in summary "It is now recommended that all infants and children,
including adolescents, have a minimum daily intake of 400 IU of vitamin D
beginning soon after birth. The current recommendation replaces the previous
recommendation of a minimum daily intake of 200 IU/day of vitamin D
supplementation beginning in the first 2 months after birth and continuing
through adolescence. These revised guidelines for vitamin D intake for healthy
infants, children, and adolescents are based on evidence from new clinical trials
and the historical precedence of safely giving 400 IU of vitamin D per day in the
pediatric and adolescent population. New evidence supports a potential role for
vitamin D in maintaining innate immunity and preventing diseases such as
diabetes and cancer."

The announcement had lots of TV coverage - here is what ABC said.

The newspapers fell upon the announcement:

• Wall Street Journal
• Science Daily
• US News & World Report was informative and practical

The problem is that breast feeding is good for babies but not a lot of vitamin D gets to babies via breast milk. Because so many people are somewhat Vitamin D deficient, including mothers, this makes the situation more precarious.

If babies get enough sunshine then they'll make enough Vitamin D naturally but this simple solution only works if there is a lot of sunshine for most of the year. Many parents worry about skin cancer and keep babies and small children well covered when outside.

Children don't play outside as much as previous generations so natural creation of Vitamin D just does not happen as much.

So it's got to be supplements for many babies and children.

The full report from The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) runs to 11 dense pages.