title: Vitamin D status during pregnancy:  maternal, fetal, and postnatal outcomes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To consider evidence from recent studies linking maternal vitamin D status during pregnancy with maternal, fetal, and postnatal outcomes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Several studies have demonstrated an association between poor maternal vitamin D status and severe preeclampsia, though results are inconsistent and cannot be generalized to nonsevere preeclampsia. Pregnant women with gestational diabetes, intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, and periodontal disease had lower vitamin D status at mid-gestation or delivery compared with controls. Maternal vitamin D status early in pregnancy was associated with risk of low birth weight and small-for-gestational age infants in one study, whereas another study found this relation only among white women. Polymorphisms in the vitamin D receptor gene may contribute to vitamin D-related disparities in fetal growth. Evidence from recent studies suggests an early prenatal influence of maternal vitamin D status on fetal skeletal development, with lasting postnatal effects. Cord blood vitamin D status was associated with tolerogenic immune regulation and fewer respiratory infections in the newborn.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Recent evidence supports a role of maternal vitamin D status, particularly early in pregnancy, in modulating the risk of pregnancy complications and in sustaining fetal growth, bone development, and immune maturation.
authors: USDA, ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center, Davis, California 95616, USA. daphnadror@gmail.com
authors: Daphna K
authors: DK
authors: Dror
mesh_terms: D016640:Diabetes, Gestational / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000378:metabolism; D047109:Fetal Development; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000097:blood; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D014807:Vitamin D