Reply to J Reichrath and K Querings

EA Martin Program in Human Nutrition
Box 2204
South Dakota State University
Brookings, SD 57007
E-mail: bonny.specker{at}sdstate.edu

Dear Sir:

I appreciate the interest of Reichrath and Querings in my review of vitamin D requirements during pregnancy. Those authors noted that there is increasing evidence that vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy may lead to a predisposition to immunologic diseases, yet none of the studies they cited pertain to pregnancy. However, one study was found in the literature that investigated the relation between vitamin D status during pregnancy and the subsequent development of immunologic diseases (1). This case-control study (85 cases and 1071 controls) from Norway found that cod liver oil taken during pregnancy was associated with reduced risk of type 1 diabetes in the offspring. These investigators, however, did not find an association between type 1 diabetes among the offspring and the prenatal use of multivitamin supplements, which typically contain significant amounts of vitamin D. This association, therefore, is not likely to be a direct result of maternal vitamin D status, but could be due to additional nutritive factors in cod liver oil or other confounding factors. Although the studies discussed by Reichrath and Querings are intriguing, it would be premature to state that there is evidence that vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy may be a predisposing factor for the fetus to the development of immunologic diseases.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author had no conflicts of interest to report.

REFERENCE

1. Stene LC, Ulriksen J, Magnus P, Joner G. Use of cod liver oil during pregnancy associated with lower risk of type I diabetes in the offspring. Diabetologia 2000;43:1093–8.