title: Does vitamin D make the world go 'round'?
abstract: Abstract Vitamin D has emerged from obscurity, and its effects on various organ systems throughout the body down to the cellular level are being discovered. What was once thought to be a simple hormone affecting only bone and calcium metabolism has shifted. We no longer see vitamin D as a "vitamin" important only in childhood, but as a complex hormone that is involved not only in calcium homeostasis but also in the integrity of the innate immune system. Vitamin D deficiency is linked to inflammatory and long-latency diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, tuberculosis, diabetes, and various cancers, to name a few. In this review, we trace how we came to view vitamin D and how that view led to one of the largest epidemics of nutrient deficiency beginning in the late 20(th) century. We then discuss the needs of vitamin D in the context of the breastfeeding mother and her infant and child, why breastfed infants are particularly at risk, and what to do about it.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Nutritional Research Center, Darby Children's Research Institute, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina 29425, USA. wagnercl@musc.edu
authors.forename: Carol L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: Sarah N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Bruce W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Hollis
mesh_terms: D050071:Bone Density Conservation Agents; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000378:metabolism; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000737:chemistry*; D012307:Risk Factors; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology*; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*
chemical_list: D050071:Bone Density Conservation Agents; D014807:Vitamin D; D002118:Calcium