Vitamin D and Pregnancy

Another paper on the significance of vitamin D has recently been published.  In it, the authors report,

"low maternal levels of 25 hydroxyvitamin D are associated with adverse outcomes for both mother and fetus in pregnancy as well as the neonate and child."

Further, low vitamin D seems to be linked with "infertility, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes and an increased rate of caesarean section."

Clearly, it is very important for pregnant women to maintain healthy vitamin D levels.  The general recommendation for most people is to maintain serum 25-OH D levels above 55 ng/mL.  The absolute bottom threshold seems to be around 33ng/mL but greater than 55 is generally believed to be a more optimal range.  

The authors of this study admit that whether low vitamin D causes problems during pregnancy or is simply associated with them is unclear.  However, they also acknowledge that there are plausible physiological mechanisms that could explain how low vitamin D would cause the issues.

With 3/4 of American deficient in vitamin D, it appears that we need to pay special attention to pregnant mothers.