title: Vitamin D at term of pregnancy and during lactation in white and black women living in Northern Italy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Evaluate the vitamin D serum status in a population of white and black mothers who live in the same geographic area of northern Italy (45 degrees 8' N of latitude) and its correlation with vitamin D serum concentrations of the respective newborns at birth, at 2 and 12 months.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twelve white woman-infant pairs and 12 black woman-infant pairs were recruited from January through March 2006. The study population had no pre-existing disease and delivered at term of pregnancy (37-41 weeks of gestational age). Only black infants were given vitamin D supplementation from birth to 1 year of age.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eleven black and 12 white women had low vitamin D serum levels at term of pregnancy. Similarly, black and white newborns were both vitamin D deficient at birth. After 12 months white women re-gained physiological vitamin D serum levels, whereas black women maintained a status of vitamin D deficiency. Black newborns who were given supplementation showed lower vitamin D serum concentrations as compared with white newborns at 1 year of age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data showed that all the women living in the same region of northern Italy without any supplementation are equally vitamin D deficient at term of pregnancy regardless of their skin pigmentation. Consequently, every woman should be supplied with additional vitamin D during pregnancy and lactation, though such supplementation seems to exert the most beneficial effects in black women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Castelli Hospital, Verbania, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gaggero
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mariani
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guarino
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Patrucco
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ballardini
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Boscardini
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barbaglia
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bello
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guala
mesh_terms: D044383:Black People; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007558:Italy; D007774:Lactation / Q000097:blood*; D011247:Pregnancy; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000097:blood*; D044465:White People
chemical_list: D014807:Vitamin D