Got Vitamin D?

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

New study shows babies and kids just aren't getting enough.

On today's Good Morning America, they discussed how many babies, toddlers, kids, and adolescents are vitamin D deficient. Studies have found 12% of infants don't get enough vitamin D, and that an alarming 42% of adolescents don't either.

Because so many kids spend more time on the computer than in the sun, they're not getting enough vitamin D from good ol' Mother Nature. Plus, even when they're outside, they're slathered in sunscreen, which blocks the good effects of sun as well as the bad.

Although formula is fortified with Vitamin D, breast milk is often vitamin D deficient, so breastfed babies are particularly at risk.

What can moms do?

Give kids supplements. Babies need 200 units (in liquid form), and kids need 400 units daily. If you're breastfeeding, you need to take a supplement, too -- 1000 units are recommended.

Catch some rays. GMA's Dr. Marie Savard recommends that adults and kids go in the sun unprotected for 5-10 minutes two times a week to get vitamin D. After those 5-10 minutes, go back inside or slather on the sunscreen.

Stock up on juice and milk. Encourage kids to drink juice or milk fortified with vitamin D.

Serve foods with vitamin D. Cod liver oil is the best source of vitamin D, but who's eating that? More palatable foods that include the vital vitamin include: tuna fish, salmon, fortified cereals, eggs, and cheese.

Do you or your kids take a vitamin D supplement?

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6 comments so far | Post a comment now >>

What foods are best 2 eat with vitimin D?

- Gemma

Posted 06/18/08 04:47 PM

What foods are best 2 eat with vitimin D?

- Gemma

Posted 06/18/08 04:47 PM

Vitamin D fortified milk

- Charles

Posted 06/18/08 05:15 PM

Let the kids run around in the backyard in the early evening without sunscreen on… the harmful rays are the most harmful between 10am and 4pm, so after that they shouldn’t burn and can still get that vitimin D!

- Maxine

Posted 06/18/08 06:13 PM

The suggestion that breastmilk is deficient in vitamin D is ludicrous. Breastmilk has perfectly adequate amounts of vitamin D. Children today are deficient in sunlight exposure. Five minutes a day of sun exposure while wearing just a diaper is enough for your baby’s liver to synthesize all the vitamin D he or she needs. No skin damage will result from a little sun in the early morning or early evening. Formula companies are trying to undermine confidence in the goodness of breastmilk by making women think their milk is somehow lacking. And guess what? They’re the ones manufacturing the vitamin D supplements!

- Northwoods Doula

Posted 07/18/08 08:58 PM

Tanning salons~! Get your Vitamin D from tanning machines. Forget about everything you heard negative about them for the last 30 years. The experts were WRONG. These light machines should be called ANTI-CANCER machines.

- John H

Posted 01/11/09 12:46 PM