PRELIMINARY EVIDENCE IS NOW STRONG ENOUGH for Advanced Pediatrics to support the advice to give 400 units of Vitamin D every day to every child starting at birth (unless the child is mainly nourished by formula) through adolescence.
While much attention has been showered on the possible extraordinary power of vitamins to restore health, cure disease, and prevent illness, nearly all vitamin studies have failed to show any benefit beyond their very important role as nutrients. Vitamin C, for example, has been shown in study after study to have no ability to cure or prevent colds.
Folic acid is the only vitamin to date to have been proven to have benefits when taken beyond nutritional need. Women taking folic acid in the very first weeks of pregnancy can greatly reduce the chance of neural tube defects such as spina bifada.
There is now growing evidence that Vitamin D, taken in amounts beyond those needed to prevent rickets, might prevent some forms of cancer, auto-immune disease, and diabetes. While this is not yet proven, the chance it might be true is growing. The risk of taking as much as 400 Units a day appears slight. Therefore, Advanced Pediatrics supports the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics statement published November, 2008.
http://www.aap.org/presssroom/nce/nce08vitamind.htmView pdf.
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