New Vitamins D recommendations for Kids (from Jill)

A report came out monday of this week (so you may have read about it by now) that says that the nation's leading pediatricians group says children from newborns to teens should get double the usually recommended amount of vitamin D because of evidence that it may help prevent serious diseases. The new recommendation of 400 units daily will mean that millions of children will need to take daily vitamin D supplements.

Every age group seems to be effected from infants to teens. The only group that might be getting adequate Vit D are babies who take formula since most contain vitamin D. However, the academy recommends breast-feeding for at least the first year of life and breast milk is sometimes deficient. For older children who drink milk, most commercially available milk is fortified with vitamin D, but most children and teens don't drink enough of it since four cups daily would be needed to meet the new requirement. Besides milk and some other fortified foods like cereal, vitamin D is found in oily fish including tuna, mackerel and sardines. Given the limited sources, it's hard to get enough through diet; the best source is sunlight because the body makes vitamin D when sunshine hits the skin. While it is believed that 10 to 15 minutes in the sun without sunscreen a few times weekly is sufficient for many, people with dark skin and those in northern, less sunny climates need more. Because of sunlight's link with skin cancer, "vitamin D supplements during infancy, childhood and adolescence are necessary," the academy's report says.

The new advice is based on mounting research about potential benefits from vitamin D besides keeping bones strong, including suggestions that it might reduce risks for cancer, diabetes and heart disease. But - AND THIS IS IMPORTANT - the evidence isn't conclusive and there's no consensus on how much of the vitamin would be needed for disease prevention. As with all research, you may want to wait to see if future studies prove the same findings and, in the meantime, it would be appropriate to try to figure out your child's Vitamin D intake and/or discuss it with your pediatrician (especially if you child doesn't like dairy foods or fortified cereals)