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Maternal vitamin D intake may protect against pediatric allergic rhinitis

Mothers whose diets included increased vitamin D intake gave birth to children who had a reduced likelihood of developing allergic rhinitis at school age, according to recent research.

“Weak-to-moderate correlations between maternal vitamin D intake during pregnancy and serum [25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D)] levels during the prenatal, perinatal and childhood periods were observed. Food-based but not supplemental vitamin D intake by mothers during the first and second trimesters was associated with 20% reduced odds of ever allergic rhinitis at school age,” Supinda Bunyavanich, MD, MPH, of the division of allergy and immunology, department of pediatrics and the department of genetics and genomic sciences at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and colleagues wrote. “There were no associations between any other measure of vitamin D and allergic rhinitis; likewise, all measures of vitamin D were not associated with serum total [immunoglobulin E (IgE)] levels or environmental allergen sensitization at school age.”

The researchers evaluated the vitamin D exposure of 1,248 pairs of mothers and children in a prebirth cohort, according to the abstract. They conducted tests for associations between vitamin D exposure and allergic rhinitis, serum total IgE level and allergic sensitization. During the first and third trimesters, Bunyavanich and colleagues measured vitamin D intake by maternal intake as well as serum 25(OH)D during pregnancy. They also measured vitamin D intake through cord blood and then during school age (median age, 7.7 years).

The researchers found a weak-to-moderate correlation between vitamin D intake during pregnancy and serum 25(OH)D levels in pregnant mothers, in cord blood and in school-aged children, according to the abstract. Specifically, each 100 IU/d during the first trimester of pregnancy was associated with a 21% reduced likelihood of developing allergic rhinitis at school age (OR = 0.79; 95% CI, 0.67-0.92), while the same intake during the second trimester of pregnancy was associated with a 20% reduction in allergic rhinitis at school age (OR = 95% CI, 0.68-0.93). Bunyavanich and colleagues found no associations between maternal supplemental vitamin D intake and developing allergic rhinitis as well as no associations between vitamin D exposure and serum IgE at any point and development of allergic sensitization at school age, according to the abstract. – by Jeff Craven

Disclosure: Bunyavanich and two other researchers report grants from NIH. Other researchers report grants from Cambridge University Press, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, NIH, Springer Humana Press and UpToDate. Please see the full study for a complete list of all researchers’ relevant financial disclosures.