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400 IU of vitamin D for infants is good, 200 IU is not enough – RCT April 2013

Comparison between daily supplementation doses of 200 versus 400 IU of vitamin D in infants.

Eur J Pediatr. 2013 Apr 5.
Atas E, Karademır F, Ersen A, Meral C, Aydınoz S, Suleymanoglu S, Gultepe M, Gocmen I.
Department of Pediatric Oncology, Gulhane Military Medical Academy, 06018 Etlik, Ankara, Turkey, eatasdr at gmail.com.

The daily supplementation of vitamin D is mandatory for infants. However, there are still conflicting opinions about the exact daily dose. Thus, we aimed to evaluate a daily supplementation dose of 200 IU is sufficient and compared the supplementation doses of 200 and 400 IU per day. One hundred and sixty-nine infants were randomly assigned to two groups (group1, 200 IU/day; group 2, 400 IU/day) and there were 75 infants in group 1 and 64 were in group 2 with a total number of 139. The median levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 were significantly increased in group 2 at the age of 4 months (group 1, 39.60 mcg/L; group 2, 56.55 mcg/L; p < 0.0001). We clearly demonstrated that at the age of 4 months, none of the infants on the group 2 had a serum level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 less than 30 mcg/L. However, 21.3 % of the infants in group 1 had a level below 30 mcg/L. Thus, in order to avoid vitamin D deficiency and rickets, we recommend supplementation dose of vitamin D at 400 IU/day as a safe and effective dose.

PMID: 23559332


Summary by VitaminDWiki

By age 4 months

200 IU 400 IU
Average 40 ng57 ng
% < 30 ng 21 %0 %

Note:

  1. Some countries still state that just 20 ng is sufficient
  2. US: 400 IU is adequate for infants
  3. Canada: 400 IU in summer, 800 IU in winter
  4. European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology: 200–800 IU according to situation

See also VitaminDWik