Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency in Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jewish mothers in Israel.
BACKGROUND
The modest clothing that Orthodox Jewish women wear exposes very little of their skin to sunlight. Under these conditions they may develop vitamin D deficiency, even in sunny Israel.


OBJECTIVE
To determine and compare the vitamin D nutritional status in Jewish orthodox mothers to that of non-orthodox mothers who live in the same metropolitan area in Israel.


METHODS
25-Hydroxyvitamin D was measured by competitive protein-binding radioassay in the sera of 341 Jewish Israeli mothers (156 orthodox and 185 non-orthodox). The sera were obtained 48-72 hours after childbirth during the late summer of 1998 and the spring of 1999.


RESULTS
The mean (SD) serum concentration of 25-OHD was significantly (P < 0.002) lower (13.5 +/- 7.5 ng/ml) in the orthodox than in the non-orthodox mothers (18.6 +/- 9.6 ng/ml). Vitamin D deficiency (< 5 ng/ml) and insufficiency (< 10 ng/ml) were more common in the orthodox mothers (5.1% and 32.7% respectively) than in the non-orthodox mothers (2.7% and 13%, respectively). In subgroups of mothers supplemented with 400 units of vitamin D daily during pregnancy, vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency were less common (2.2% and 13%, respectively) in orthodox and non-orthodox mothers (0% and 8.1%, respectively). Vitamin D insufficiency was more common in the winter than in the summer only among non-orthodox mothers.


CONCLUSIONS
The high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency in Israeli mothers raises the question whether vitamin D supplements should be given to pregnant women in Israel, at least to orthodox mothers.
Mukamel
M N
MN
Bone Disease Unit, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Israel.
Weisman
Y
Y
Somech
R
R
Eisenberg
Z
Z
Landman
J
J
Shapira
I
I
Spirer
Z
Z
Jurgenson
U
U
D000328:Adult; D003020:Clothing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D007599:Judaism; D016014:Linear Models; D009035:Mothers; D015995:Prevalence; D013472:Sunlight; D014505:Urban Population; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*