Re: Premature Birth (and Vitamin D Status)

[Guest guest]

Desh,

> I've read studies about vitamin C deficiency and weak amniotic sacs at

> naturalchildbirth.org. . . . .surely chemical vitamins and excess carbs

> play into this, too.

Vitamin C is essential for collagen synthesis and I believe it can

help prevent or reduce stretch marks for that reason, in addition to

the more immediate benefits in utero that you mentioned. Some people

claim that high dose vitamin C can actually increase the risk of

preterm birth, so until I read more research (and more research is

done), I'd hesitate to recommend high-dose vitamin C. But a gram or so

a day should be safe and enough to ensure sufficiency.

Another micronutrient factor that seems to be very important is

vitamin D. I recently learned that African-Americans have a much

higher risk of preterm birth than European-Americans, even after

adjusting for differences in socioeconomic status. Africans, however,

have about the same risk as whites. Yet Africans who emigrate to the

US have preterm rates similar to African-Americans! Our healthcare

system has no real ideas for this, other than postulating that the

stress of being an immigrant/minority increases the risk. That's

possible but I doubt it could explain the magnitude of the increase.

After learning this, I immediately suspected a connection with vitamin

D status. Africans and African-Americans have dark skin, being adapted

to living in tropical and subtropical regions. Dark skin protects from

the higher intensity sunlight, but in temperate regions it blocks most

of the UV, which lowers vitamin D production by the skin. Thus, most

people with dark skin living in America have vitamin D levels far

below optimal. It seems to me that vitamin D alone can explain a large

portion of the difference in preterm birth between these populations.

Doing a web search of " vitamin D " and " preterm birth " I found some

research suggesting that vitamin D status is indeed associated with

risk of preterm birth. Getting enough at all stages of life is

extremely important. Even those with the palest of skin will benefit

greatly from supplementation when not exposed to significant sunlight.

Tom