SUPPORT FOR INTAKE OF VITAMIN D DURING PREGNANCY:
DEFICIENCY OF VITAMIN D WAS FOUND TO BE TERATOGENOUS IN CHICKEN
(Review of Chicken-Experiment from 1967)
Scientific publication accepted and presented for the
14th-International-Vitamin-D-Workshop-Belgium-2009
in the "Concertgebouw"-Hall of Brugge, Belgium.
from 4 th to 8 th of October 2009 in Brugge "Brügge - Belgien"
Dr. med. Raimund von Helden, General Practitioner
VitaminDelta-Institute, D-57368 Lennestadt, Germany
![Vitamin-D-VitaminDelta-Institute Vitamin-D-VitaminDelta-Institute](/images/stories/competence/Vitamin-D-VitaminDelta-Institute.jpg)
BACKGROUND:
The majority of the German population suffers from a vitamin D-deficiency. Reasons for this are an inadequate nutrition and a lack of sun exposure for an annual period of 6 months. However, pregnant women in particular are afraid that vitamin D might lead to malformations in the unborn child. The well known slogan is: “No tablets during pregnancy!” Up until now it has been difficult to rule out the possibility of malformations because double-blind studies with pregnant women are ethically objectionable. Scientific literature does not provide satisfactory answers to this difficult question either.
METHODS:
In 1967, Bärbel Karb conducted a vitamin D-experiment with 42 chickens in a simplified kind of “crossover design”. (pubmed.gov #5401066), (worldcat.org #4060930). This scientific work was reviewed.
![Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-02 Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-02](/images/stories/competence/Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-02.jpg)
RESULTS:
Among the group of chickens with vitamin D-deficiency, 35% of the offspring showed malformations. In contrast, only 1.5% of the offspring of chickens with adequate vitamin D nutrition displayed malformations. When the chickens with vitamin D-deficiency were subsequently given vitamin D for 5 weeks, the rate of malformations was reduced to 6%. When the scientists stopped feeding vitamin D, the rate of malformations saw another increase to 35%.
![Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-03 Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-03](/images/stories/competence/Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-03.jpg)
![Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-04 Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-04](/images/stories/competence/Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-04.jpg)
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![Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-06 Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-06](/images/stories/competence/Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-06.jpg)
![Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-03 Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-03](/images/stories/competence/Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-07.jpg)
![Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-04 Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-04](/images/stories/competence/Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-08.jpg)
![Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-05 Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-05](/images/stories/competence/Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-09.jpg)
![Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-06 Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-06](/images/stories/competence/Vitamin-D-AntiTeratogen-10.jpg)
CONCLUSION:
Should women take vitamin D during pregnancy or not? This question is raised very often in a practitioner’s daily routine. A nutritional experiment from the year 1969 with chickens shows that malformations are induced by the deficiency of vitamin D.
The human risk of vitamin D-deficiency is common with overweight, smoking, anti-epileptic drugs and lack of sun exposure. These situations are calling for an adequate intake of Vitamin D. All pregnant women should be monitored for vitamin D-deficiency to prevent malformations of their children.