A new study has just been recently published in the prestigious journal Pediatrics. The study looked at the prevalence and associations of vitamin D deficiency in United States children from 2001 to 2004.
Like so much epidemiological research in the United States, this study was based on the NHANES studies, that I have mentioned many times.
The purpose of this study was to determine how prevalent vitamin D deficiency as well as associations between vitamin D deficiency and heart disease risk factors were in children and adolescents, in our country.
In this case they evaluated over 6000 children and adolescents. The authors defined deficiency of vitamin D as being less than 15 ng/ml.. They defined insufficiency of vitamin D to be 15 to 29 ng/ml. They also measured traditional cardiovascular risk factors in the blood.
The shocking findings were that over 9% of the pediatric population which is 7.6 million US children and lessons were vitamin D deficient. In addition 61% which is 50.8 million US children and adolescents were vitamin D insufficient. That totals 70% of all American children.
In addition they found that only 4% of the children had taken even 400 IU of vitamin D per day for the past 30 days.
The leader of the study Michal L. Melamed MD at Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University stated “several small studies had found a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in specific populations, but no one had examined this issue nationwide."
A lead author Juhi Kumar MD MPH stated that “we expected the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency would be high, but the magnitude of the problem nationwide was shocking."
After statistical analysis they found that those who were: older, female, African American, or Mexican-American, obese, who drank milk less than once a week, or used more than four hours of television,video or computers per day, were all more likely to be vitamin D deficient.
Of course they found that those who used vitamin D supplementation far less likely to be deficient.
In addition the Vitamin D deficiency in these children was associated with elevated parathyroid hormone levels( a marker of bone health), higher blood pressure, and lower calcium, as well as lower HDL cholesterol, compared to those who had vitamin D levels greater than 30 ng/ml. As we know these are risk factors for heart disease.
The authors conclusions were "vitamin D deficiency is common in the general US pediatric population and is associated with adverse cardiovascular risk."
Dr Melamed recommended to parents that “it would be good for them to turn off the TV and send their kids outside. Just 15 to 20 minutes a day should be enough. And at last they burn easily, don’t put sunscreen on them and tell they’ve been out in the sun for 10 minutes, so they get the good stuff but not sun damage".
I point out to my readers that is almost exactly what I recommend in my book. And it is not just true for children for the adults as well.
I live in Cincinnati, Ohio. After listening to your instructions to others, it sounds to me that even without testing my levels, I’d probably be safe to take 50,000iu for 6 weeks and then go to a maintenance dose of 2000 for life. Is this same protocol safe for a child of 4?
My daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes shortly before turning 4. She’s now 6 and 44#. While she’s active I’m quite sure her vitamin D, is probably low. Will generic children’s vitamins give her enough, in usable form, that taking a daily kids chewable is all she needs or do I need to get her a Vitamin D specifically and what IU should a 44# child be taking? Thank you!
Shelly Great question!
The short answer is that your child’s multiple vitamin will (generally) not come close to what your daughter needs to get her vitamin D level up.
As you know from my book there are SO many variables in determining how much vitamin D a person or a child needs that without a blood test it is impossible to know what dose she needs. My book goes into great detail on how I optimize my patients vitamin D levels.
Since I am not your daughter’s doctor I cannot legally tell you what dose of D to give her. But you will see in my book, that for children over age 1 without a blood test I do recommend 1000 IU per day total.
With a blood test I can recommend you and her doctor get her levels over 50ng/ml and even up to 70 ng/ml and watch her sugars closely as they may improve with optimizing her D.
I hope that helps. let me know !
Dr Soram
Probably right about your blood levels in Cincinnati but hard to be sure without a blood level to start out. How much sun did you get this summer? did you use sun block? what is your skin type? how much do you weigh? All these questions will affect your D level. From there you can determine your dose to start and your maintenance dose. If you are overweight then 2000 a day maintenance will probably not be enough.
I NEVER use the 50,000 unit dose for a 4 year old child. It will be way too much. Without a blood test I recommend 1000 IU per day for a 4 year old child.
Your doctor can check your levels or you can get one of my at-home test kits.
Hi I have been doing research on this issue because my daughters doctor was concerned that my daughter isn’t getting enough Vitamin D. I want to know how much Vitamin D a child of 1 should be getting a day…she is a normal healthy baby…and I want to make sure she gets the right amount without giving her any supplements. So how much time outside would be the best thing for her? Thank you!
Virginia
That is a complicated question. Please read my book and you will learn of the 11 factors that affect one’s ability to get Vitamin D from the sun.
Specifically if you are north of the 35th parallel from Memphis to Bakersfield Ca. you and your child will get NO vitamin D from being in the sun from approximately November to March every year.
I recommend to my patients that once their child is 1 year old they give them 1000 IU of vitamin D per day.
Ben
you can give a toddler liquid drops of vitamin D. As they get older you can open a capsule of vitamin D and for the powder in their juice. There is no bad taste to vitamin D and they tolerated very well. I’ve been doing that in my practice for many years.
I hope that helps.
Dr. Soram
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I live in Cincinnati, Ohio. After listening to your instructions to others, it sounds to me that even without testing my levels, I’d probably be safe to take 50,000iu for 6 weeks and then go to a maintenance dose of 2000 for life. Is this same protocol safe for a child of 4?
My daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes shortly before turning 4. She’s now 6 and 44#. While she’s active I’m quite sure her vitamin D, is probably low. Will generic children’s vitamins give her enough, in usable form, that taking a daily kids chewable is all she needs or do I need to get her a Vitamin D specifically and what IU should a 44# child be taking? Thank you!
Shelly Great question!
The short answer is that your child’s multiple vitamin will (generally) not come close to what your daughter needs to get her vitamin D level up.
As you know from my book there are SO many variables in determining how much vitamin D a person or a child needs that without a blood test it is impossible to know what dose she needs. My book goes into great detail on how I optimize my patients vitamin D levels.
Since I am not your daughter’s doctor I cannot legally tell you what dose of D to give her. But you will see in my book, that for children over age 1 without a blood test I do recommend 1000 IU per day total.
With a blood test I can recommend you and her doctor get her levels over 50ng/ml and even up to 70 ng/ml and watch her sugars closely as they may improve with optimizing her D.
I hope that helps. let me know !
Dr Soram
Probably right about your blood levels in Cincinnati but hard to be sure without a blood level to start out. How much sun did you get this summer? did you use sun block? what is your skin type? how much do you weigh? All these questions will affect your D level. From there you can determine your dose to start and your maintenance dose. If you are overweight then 2000 a day maintenance will probably not be enough.
I NEVER use the 50,000 unit dose for a 4 year old child. It will be way too much. Without a blood test I recommend 1000 IU per day for a 4 year old child.
Your doctor can check your levels or you can get one of my at-home test kits.
Best to your good health.
Dr Soram
Hi I have been doing research on this issue because my daughters doctor was concerned that my daughter isn’t getting enough Vitamin D. I want to know how much Vitamin D a child of 1 should be getting a day…she is a normal healthy baby…and I want to make sure she gets the right amount without giving her any supplements. So how much time outside would be the best thing for her? Thank you!
Virginia
That is a complicated question. Please read my book and you will learn of the 11 factors that affect one’s ability to get Vitamin D from the sun.
Specifically if you are north of the 35th parallel from Memphis to Bakersfield Ca. you and your child will get NO vitamin D from being in the sun from approximately November to March every year.
I recommend to my patients that once their child is 1 year old they give them 1000 IU of vitamin D per day.
Dr Soram
Can you give a child one dose of 7,000 rather than 1,000 7 days a week?
Ann
what age is your child and their weight? that is fine to do in adults but never been asked about kids.
Ben
you can give a toddler liquid drops of vitamin D. As they get older you can open a capsule of vitamin D and for the powder in their juice. There is no bad taste to vitamin D and they tolerated very well. I’ve been doing that in my practice for many years.
I hope that helps.
Dr. Soram