HHS HealthBeat (August 07, 2006)

Where's the sunshine vitamin? 2

Researcher Ekhard Ziegler (EK’-hard ZIG’-luhr) of the University of Iowa says more than three quarters of breastfed babies who did not receive supplements were vitamin D deficient in the winter:

"If the babies received neither vitamin D drops or formula, a full 78 percent were vitamin D deficient during winter. During summer, when the babies formed vitamin D in the skin and the mothers formed vitamin D in the skin from the ultraviolet radiation, only 2 percent of babies were found to be vitamin D deficient." (20 seconds)

Last revised: August, 15 2006