After the announcements that there will be 3 new babies in my family (which I am beyond excited about !!!) I was compelled to write this blog about Vitamin D. This is one change people can make which will have a huge benefit for their children's health and it is a fairly easy thing to do.
Vitamin D3 supplementation has been shown to provide the following benefits to children:
. lowers the risk of autism
. lowers serum and tissue aluminum levels and strengthens bones
. lowers the risk of developing Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD-like symptoms in the offspring of mothers taking a vitamin D supplement during pregnancy
The reason for the above findings is; Vitamin D supplementation lowers serum aluminum levels in people with higher than normal levels of aluminum and as Dennis has found out from doing a review of the research, aluminum is a neurotoxin which causes damage to the brain.
Mothers should take 4,000 IU everyday while pregnant and 6,000 IU everyday of vitamin D3 while breastfeeding.
The Vitamin D Council, the Endrocrine Society, and the American Academy of Pediatrics all recommend that babies get daily intake of 400 – 800 IU of vitamin D3 from formula and/or breastmilk. In order to give their children breastmilk with this level of vitamin D3 requires the mothers take a vitamin D3 supplement.
Infants, children, and adolescents should get a total of at least 800 IU every day of vitamin D3. There are vitamin D3 drops for children.
COST of VITAMIN D
For pregnant woman : around 12 cents per day
For infants and children : as low at 2 cents per day (shop around)
Vitamin D from the Sun
Studies have found the majority of the population have low levels of Vitamin D. Studies have also found being outdoors doesn't guarantee a sufficient level of Vitamin D. A few years ago a friend from Florida suggested I get my Vit D level checked. She had recently been told by her Doctor she had very low levels of Vit D. My first thought was "I am outdoors all the time, my Vit D levels are fine". After thinking about her information I decided not to dismiss her recommendation - she lives in Florida - she swims every other day, and jogs on the other days. She is getting sun exposure but yet her Vitamin D is low. I actually didn't start taking Vitamin D after I got this information. It wasn't until Dennis read the Alzheimer's research and found that Vitamin D will help decrease aluminum in our bodies.
If you aren't convinced yet to take Vitamin D here are 2 strong studies to support this recommendation.
Research has found lower levels of Vitamin D in Autistic children as compared to children without Autism
In 2015 Doctor Elisabeth Fernell at the University of Gothenberg in Sweden published a study that looked at vitamin D2 levels of 58 sibling pairs, in which one child had Autism Spectrum Disorder and the other did not have ASD. The children’s vitamin D2 levels were measured within 4 weeks of birth. The children with ASD had significantly lower vitamin D2 as compared with their non-ASD siblings. Doctor Frenell concluded that low prenatal vitamin D2 may act as a risk factor for ASD.
A study done in 2012 compared Vitamin D2 levels in 50 autistic children with 30 healthy children age 5-12. Both groups had equal sun exposure and no vitamin D3 supplementation. The results conclusively showed that autistic children have lower vitamin D2 levels than non-autistic children and the lower their vitamin D2 level the more severe the autism.
Here is a list of benefits of Vitamin D supplementation for Adults
. Lowers the risk of Alzheimer's disease
. Lowers the risk of stroke
. Minimizes stroke severity and functional impairment due to stroke
. Improves muscle strength and balance in older adults
. Lowers serum and tissue aluminum levels and strengthens bones
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