No need for high-dose vitamin D in infants: study

Tripling the dose of vitamin D supplementation for babies does not make their bones any stronger by age two, according to a study in Finland published today.

Vitamin D is essential because it helps the body absorb calcium. It is naturally produced when the skin is exposed to sunlight, but as many as 40 percent of Europeans do not get enough of it, according to a 2016 study.

Without sufficient Vitamin D, people are at risk of rickets, a weakened bone condition that may result in stunted growth and bowed legs.

Thinking that more vitamin D might be better for babies, researchers conducted a randomized clinical trial of 975 healthy infants in Finland, assigning some to receive the recommended daily dose of 400 international units (IU) of vitamin D and the rest to get 1,200 IU.

By the age of 24 months, however, they found "no difference in bone strength or incidence of infections," said the report in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Pediatrics.

"This study involving 975 healthy children is, to our knowledge, the first large randomized clinical trial evaluating vitamin D supplementation from infancy to early childhood," said the report.

Noting that the majority of infants studied were not vitamin D deficient to begin with, the higher dose "provides no additional benefits for bone strength or for parent-reported incidence of infections during the first two years of life."