Vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency on healthy infants receiving standard supplementation

Vitamin D (VD) is essential for calcium and phosphorus metabolism. Its deficiency can cause rickets. In Chile, newborns receive 400UI/day supplementation from the first day of age until the first year. Objective: To describe the VD plasma levels in healthy infants who received supplementation and secondarily to correlate this with seasonality and nutritional status. Subjects and Method: Cross-sectional study. Infants on exclusive or mixed breastfeeding, with monthly pediatric checkups receiving 400 UI VD supplementation were evaluated, measuring VD plasma levels at 6 months of age, weight, and length, and their nutritional status was classified according to the WHO growth references (weight/age and weight/length). The VD cut-off concentration values were <= 20 ng/ml, 21- 29 ng/ml, and >= 30 ng/ml considered as deficiency, insufficiency, and sufficiency, respectively. Results: 40 infants were studied, 40% had insufficient levels and 40% presented deficiency. Season and nutritional status were variables significantly related to lower VD values (Winter-Spring p = 0.007; at risk of malnutrition p = 0.038). Conclusions: The population who received supplementation presented a high frequency of VD deficiency and insufficiency which increases during winter and spring and in subjects at risk of malnutrition.