Obese women give birth to babies with lower vitamin D levels

http://www.naturalnews.com/038770_childbirth_obesity_vitamin_D.html
David Gutierrez
January 22, 2013

Summary:  Recent studies have shown that obese women give birth to babies with lower vitamin D levels.  Vitamin D is a fat soluble, so it tends to accumulate in fat, causing there to be less vitamin D in the blood.  Researches have found that even if two women have the same amount of vitamin D levels, babies of non obese women have 3 times more vitamin D.  They think this is because healthier women have more vitamin D in their bloodstream, where obese women have less.  Therefore it is easier for healthy women to pass along vitamin D to their babies.  Insufficient vitamin D levels in babies is bad for their health.  Vitamin D is crucial to their bone growth and development, and to create a healthy immune system.  Also not enough vitamin D can lead to a higher risk of obesity and autoimmune diseases down the road.

Connection:  This connects largely to our study on the skeletal system.  Vitamin D is very important for the development of bones from cartilage, and insufficient levels of vitamin D can lead to diseases like rickets and osteoporosis.  The importance of nutrition and vitamins is shown in this article as well.  Having healthy levels of vitamins, like vitamin D, is important for the functions and health of the body as a whole.