Effects of ethnicity and vitamin D supplementation on vitamin D status and changes in bone mineral content in infants

doi:10.1186/1471-2431-12-6

BMC Pediatr. 2012; 12: 6.

Published online 2012 January 16. doi: 10.1186/1471-2431-12-6

PMCID: PMC3271033

Effects of ethnicity and vitamin D supplementation on vitamin D status and changes in bone mineral content in infants

Steven A Abrams,¹ Keli M Hawthorne,¹ Stefanie P Rogers,¹ Penni D Hicks,¹ and Thomas O Carpenter²

¹Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, Texas 77030, USA

²Departments of Pediatrics (Endocrinology) and Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511, USA

Corresponding author.

Steven A Abrams: sabrams/at/bcm.edu; Keli M Hawthorne: kelih/at/bcm.edu; Stefanie P Rogers: Stefanie/at/nwnewborn.com; Penni D Hicks: pennih/at/bcm.edu; Thomas O Carpenter: thomas.carpenter/at/yale.edu

Received October 28, 2011; Accepted January 16, 2012.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Background

To evaluate the effects on serum 25(OH)D and bone mineralization of supplementation of breast-fed Hispanic and non-Hispanic Caucasian infants with vitamin D in infants in Houston, Texas.

Methods

We measured cord serum 25(OH)D levels, bone mineral content (BMC), bone mineral density (BMD) and their changes over 3 months of life with 400 IU/day of vitamin D3 supplementation.

Results

Cord serum 25(OH)D was significantly lower in Hispanic than non-Hispanic Caucasian infants (16.4 ± 6.5 ng/mL, n = 27, vs 22.3 ± 9.4 n = 22, p = 0.013). Among 38 infants who completed a 3 month vitamin D supplementation intervention, provision of 400 IU/day of vitamin D increased final 25(OH)D to a higher level in non-Hispanic Caucasian compared to Hispanic infants. There was no significant relationship between cord serum 25(OH)D and BMC or BMD in the first week of life (n = 49) or after 3 months of vitamin D supplementation.

Conclusion

Low cord 25(OH)D levels are seen in Hispanic infants, but their functional significance is uncertain related to bone health in a southern US setting. Daily vitamin D intake of 400 IU during the first months of life appears adequate to increase serum 25(OH)D and support BMC increases despite low initial 25(OH)D levels in some infants.

Trial Registration

ClincalTrials.gov NCT00697294

Keywords: breastfeeding, vitamin D, bone mineral content

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