A study found that if vitamin D is lacking at birth, immune function in childhood decreases and the likelihood of becoming sensitive to various allergens increases.
The National Institute of Health of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency released on Apr. 5 the results of a study that followed 322 people from birth through childhood.
Vitamin D in childhood plays an important role in bone formation and growth and in maintaining the balance of immune responses. According to the study, pediatric allergic responses are classified as house dust mite type, pollen type, and multi-sensitized type. Among these, multi-sensitized children showed a characteristic of reacting to several allergens at the same time. In blood from these children, substances related to immune responses and cellular stress response proteins increased.
Levels were also high for inactive vitamin D, a form of vitamin D that cannot act immediately in the body. In particular, the higher the inactive vitamin D level, the higher the immune inflammation markers rose together.
Vitamin D levels in cord blood at birth were found to be closely related to vitamin D metabolic status later in childhood. The more vitamin D was lacking at birth, the more the form of vitamin D that cannot be used immediately by the body tended to increase in childhood.
These findings were published online in January this year in Allergy (IF: 12.0), a top international journal in the field of allergy and immunology.
Professor Hong Su-jong, the lead researcher, said, "Through the study, we confirmed that pediatric allergic responses progress in several types and that immune inflammatory responses, oxidative stress, and abnormal vitamin D metabolism can appear together particularly in multi-sensitized children," and noted, "It is meaningful in that it suggests vitamin D status at birth may affect immune homeostasis in childhood."
Kim Won-ho, Director General of the National Institute of Health's Department of Convergence Research on Chronic Diseases, said, "Because the immune system of growing children is formed from the pregnancy stage, maintaining an appropriate vitamin D level in pregnant women is a crucial foundation for forming children's immune balance," and explained, "To that end, balanced nutritional management is needed, including appropriate sunlight exposure of 5 to 30 minutes a day at least twice a week and taking vitamin D supplements."
Im Seung-kwan, Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, said, "It is important to monitor children's immune health not after symptoms appear but in pregnancy and early childhood," and noted, "We will use this study as an opportunity to inform the public about the importance of nutrition and immune management during pregnancy and to work on establishing practical prevention and management strategies."