According to a new study, babies born to obese mothers are at a higher risk of having a lower amount of Vitamin D.
Obesity can cause many health problems for both an expecting mother and her child. The most recent health hazard, according to a study, was a lack of sufficient amounts of Vitamin D in the body. Based on the study, babies born to thinner moms have three times more Vitamin D in their body than babies born to obese mothers.
"Nearly all of mothers in this study reported taking prenatal vitamins, which may be the reason why their own vitamin D levels were sufficient, but the babies born to the obese mothers had reduced levels of vitamin D," said Jami L. Josefson, M.D., first author of the study in a report by Science Daily. "It's possible that vitamin D may get sequestered in excess fat and not transferred sufficiently from an obese pregnant woman to her baby."
The disease that could affect a baby that has insufficient amounts of Vitamin D is yet to be found. However, it has been reported that the deficiency in adults cause autoimmune diseases, inflammation and obesity.
Sixty-one women giving birth at the Prentice Women's Hospital of Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago took part in the study. All the six women were either of normal weight or obese.
Blood was collected from the women during their 36 to 38 weeks gestation period and the Vitamin D level in the blood was measured. Immediately after the baby was born umbilical cord blood was collected.
"The range of body fat of the babies in this study was similar to other studies reporting neonatal body fat," Josefson said. "What was novel about this study was that we found babies born with higher vitamin D levels had more body fat. That's in contrast to studies in children and adults who have an inverse relationship between levels of vitamin D and body fat, where the higher their vitamin D, the lower their fat."
Josefson said that more research needs to be done on this topic as to see how this deficiency affects the health of the baby.
"Obese women may need larger amounts of vitamin D supplementation to provide their babies with sufficient levels of vitamin D while they are in the womb," Josefson said.
