Maternal intake of vitamin D during pregnancy and risk of recurrent wheeze in children at 3 y of age

Abstract

Background: Vitamin D deficiency and asthma are common at higher latitudes. Although vitamin D has important immunologic effects, its relation with asthma is unknown. Objective: We hypothesized that a higher maternal intake of vitamin D during pregnancy is associated with a lower risk of recurrent wheeze in children at 3 y of age. Design: The participants were 1194 mother-child pairs in Project Viva-a prospective prebirth cohort study in Massachusetts. We assessed the maternal intake of vitamin D during pregnancy from a validated food-frequency questionnaire. The primary outcome was recurrent wheeze, ie, a positive asthma predictive index (ͧ2 wheezing attacks among children with a personal diagnosis of eczema or a parental history of asthma).

Prenatal and childhood Mediterranean diet and the development of asthma and allergies in children

“…In animal models, vitamin E, zinc and vitamin D have been shown to modify fetal lung development, and vitamin E, zinc, vitamin D and PUFA can modulate T-cell responses. In humans, birth cohort studies have reported associations between wheezing and eczema in early life and low prenatal status of selenium and iron (17) , low maternal intake of vitamin E (9,18,19) , vitamin D (20,21) , apple and fish (10,22,23) .…”

Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels do not correlate with asthma severity in a case-controlled study of children and adolescents

“…Morales et al (18) reported that higher maternal circulating 25(OH) D concentrations in pregnancy were independently associated with a lower risk of lower respiratory tract infections in offspring in the first year of life, but not with wheezing or asthma in childhood. However, another study from the northeastern US demonstrated that a higher maternal intake of vitamin D during pregnancy may decrease the risk of recurrent wheeze in early childhood (19) .…”

Immunomodulatory Effect of Vitamin D in Children with Allergic Diseases

“…Maternal vitamin D intake during pregnancy has previously been associated with asthma symptoms in several childhood epidemiological studies [40,41], while variants in the vitamin D receptor have been associated with asthma in genetic studies [42,43].…”

“…In addition, other studies have proved that vitamin D deficiency in pregnant women may result in increased risk of respiratory tract infections in their infants [44][45][46][47][48][49]. The majority of immune cells express VDRs, mainly after they themselves have been stimulated [40,41,48]. The mechanism by which vitamin D regulates inflammation and immunity is complicated.…”

“…The mechanism by which vitamin D regulates inflammation and immunity is complicated. It controls macrophage and dendritic cell activities and various Toll-like receptor mediated events in neutrophils [40,41], and it diminishes the function of human dendritic cells by decreasing maturation, antigen presentation, and the production of cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-12 and IL-23 [42,48].…”