Low vitamin D status may predict women at risk of sepsis associated with delivery

trial of 4000 IU/day vitamin D3 for pregnant and nursing women were recently published. That amount was found to be necessary to raise circulating vitamin D3 concentrations not converted to 25(OH)D high enough to provide sufficient vitamin D3 to the nursing infant. It was also found to have some benefits on pregnancy outcome, although there were too few participants to find significant effects. There were no adverse effects with this level of supplementation, and there was no change in either urine or blood concentrations of calcium. As Scotland has low solar UVB doses for much of the year, pregnant and nursing women in Scotland should be encouraged to take adequate doses of vitamin D. A followup study would be to see how this affects pregnancy and birth outcomes in Scotland.