PREGNANT WOMEN have been warned that they need to pay closer attention to the vitamin D levels in their diet, following new research by the University of Ulster.
Researchers from the Northern Ireland Centre for Food and Health (NICHE) carried out a study on 99 expectant mothers and tested them at three separate times during pregnancy.
They said yesterday that testing at 12 and 20 weeks found that up to 96 per cent of the women had insufficient levels of vitamin D in their blood.
“Examination also revealed that at these test points, 35 per cent could be classified as vitamin D deficient at 12 weeks and 44 per cent at 20 weeks.
The results, published in the latest edition of the British Journal of Nutrition, also showed that during the third trimester, at 35 weeks, 75 per cent had insufficient levels of the vitamin and 16 per cent of women were deficient.
Dr Julie Wallace, from the university’s Biomedical Sciences Research Institute, said: “We speculate, but this remains to be proven, there may well be implications of low vitamin D status during pregnancy for the development of the child.
“Vitamin D is essential for building and maintaining strong bones, and previous studies have reported that low vitamin D levels during pregnancy are linked to lower bone density in children.”