Mom's Vitamin D and Multiple Sclerosis

A new report finds that when Mom has a high intake of vitamin D early in pregnancy, the child has up to a 45% reduced risk of developing multiple sclerosis later in life.  By now, this kind of news is becoming common.  Mom's health has the potential to 'mark' genes for expression later in life.  We all know that genes don't change.  But Mom's diet has a profound ability to place markers along the genes (kind of like flags) to tell the body whether or not to turn on those genes.

Another study found that higher vitamin D intake during pregnancy reduced the risk of childhood asthma and allergic rhinitis.  

Some authorities suspect that low vitamin D levels negatively influence the development of the child's brain and immune system.

"Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy may, therefore, not only impair maternal skeletal preservation and fetal skeletal formation but also be vital to the fetal "imprinting" that may affect chronic disease susceptibility soon after birth as well as later in life." Med Hypotheses 2010 Jan;74(1):71-5. Epub 2009 Aug 18.