The Role of Vitamin D in Fertility and during Pregnancy and Lactation: A Review of Clinical Data.

Abstract

Vitamin D deficiency is common and there exists a huge gap between recommended dietary vitamin D intakes and the poor vitamin D supply in the general population. While vitamin D is important for musculoskeletal health, there are accumulating data suggesting that vitamin D may also be important for fertility, pregnancy outcomes and lactation. Significant changes in vitamin D metabolism during pregnancy such as increased production of the "active vitamin D hormone" calcitriol support the important role of vitamin D in this setting. Observational studies show that vitamin D deficiency is a risk marker for reduced fertility and various adverse pregnancy outcomes and is associated with a low vitamin D content of breast milk. Meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) document that physiological vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy is safe and improves vitamin D and calcium status, thereby protecting skeletal health. Although certain RCTs and/or meta-analyses reported some other beneficial effects, it is still not clear whether vitamin D supplementation improves fertility or decreases the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes such as low birth weight, pre-eclampsia and neonatal mortality, or reduces wheeze/asthma in the infants. Nevertheless, vitamin D supplementation in pregnant women is frequently required to achieve a sufficient vitamin D status as recommended by nutritional vitamin D guidelines. In this review, we provide an overview of systematic reviews, meta-analyses and large trials reporting clinical data on the role of vitamin D for fertility, pregnancy and lactation.

• Authors: Stefan Pilz, Armin Zittermann, Rima Obeid, Andreas Hahn, Pawel Pludowski, Christian Trummer, Elisabeth Lerchbaum, Faustino R Pérez-López, Spyridon N Karras, Winfried März
• Journal: International journal of environmental research and public health (Int J Environ Res Public Health) Vol. 15 Issue 10 (10 12 2018) ISSN: 1660-4601 [Electronic] Switzerland
• PMID: 30322097 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)

Chemical References

• Vitamin D

Topics

• Female
• Fertility (physiology)
• Humans
• Lactation (physiology)
• Pregnancy (physiology)
• Vitamin D (metabolism)