CHILDREN who breastfeed, especially those living far from the equator, may get too little vitamin D, according to a new study in Canada.
The longer children breastfed, even if they also ate solid food or were older than one year, the greater their odds of having low levels of vitamin D, researchers found.
Breast milk does not provide enough vitamin D, particularly for people in northern parts of the world, so the Canadian Paediatric Society recommends that breastfed children take supplements containing 400 International Units of vitamin D every day for the first year of life.
“We’re not saying that breastfeeding is not a really great source of nutrition, but up here in the northern parts of the world not much vitamin D passes through breast milk,” said study coauthor Dr Jonathon Maguire, a pediatrician and researcher at St Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.
The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding through the first six months of life and continuing it in addition to solid foods for the first and second years as mutually desired by mother and child.
