Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Vitamin D levels in Malawian infants from birth to 24 months
  1. Timothy K Amukele1,
  2. Dean Soko2,
  3. Pauline Katundu2,
  4. Melvin Kamanga2,
  5. Jin Sun3,
  6. Newton I Kumwenda3,
  7. Taha E Taha3
  1. 1Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
  2. 2Johns Hopkins University Research Project, Blantyre, Malawi
  3. 3Department of Epidemiology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Timothy Amukele, Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Meyer B-125f, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA; tamukel1{at}jhmi.edu

Abstract

We measured longitudinal levels of vitamin D in unsupplemented Malawian infants at 0 (birth), 2, 12, 15, 18 and 24 months of age. Matched maternal plasma and breast milk vitamin D2 and D3 levels were also measured at delivery and 2 months postpartum. Vitamin D was measured using isotope-dilution liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry. Vitamin D3 levels in children were 36% of adult levels at birth, 60% of adult levels at age 2 months, and at par with adult levels by 12 months of age. This adult-equivalent level is subsequently maintained through age 24 months and consisted of a 98% molar ratio of vitamin D3. Vitamin D levels in breast milk were below the limit of detection, 0.1 ng/ml. Breast milk of unsupplemented Malawian mothers is a poor source of vitamin D.

  • Vitamin D
  • Children
  • Maternal
  • Africa
  • Breast milk

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Linked Articles