vitamin D

[caryn]

Yes, Heather and Michelle have it just about right as I understand things. There's research showing a lower serum level of D in women who develop preeclampsia, but:

a) this may just be correlated, rather than causal, and supplementation may not have a positive effect. There is also research showing a lower level of C and E in preeclamptics, but supplementing C and E doesn't appear to lower rates at all and does seem to lead to paradoxically *higher* pressures, earlier in gestation, in the women who were going to develop preeclampsia anyway. So they're running trials to see if it works, but I'm not too fond, especially after the C&E studies, of the "can't hurt might help!" line of thinking. We all said that about the antioxidants, and they just made us sicker quicker.

b) autoimmune diseases also go along with lower serum levels of D and are often resistant to dietary supplementation. This has something or other to do with genetically variant D receptors in the human body; apparently some of us have receptors that some forms of D bounce off of but other forms don't, so we can get D from sunlight but not from diet or perhaps vice versa, and then other people don't have those receptors, so can absorb D from both those sources.

This is being actively researched by members of our Medical Board. IIRC one of the studies says that maternal prenatals did *not* make a difference.

Here's what I've got in News:
http://www.preeclampsia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26828
http://www.preeclampsia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24297
http://www.preeclampsia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25358
http://www.preeclampsia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24718
http://www.preeclampsia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24386
http://www.preeclampsia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22897

[saving_grace]

I've never had my vit D levels checked but I have taken high vitamin cod liver oil for years that contains more than adequate amounts of both vit A and D in their natural, most absorbable forms so I shouldn't be deficient but I've had pre-e twice. I think that perhaps a vit D deficiency may be related to pre-e in some cases but its probably not going to be related in all cases. The more I read, the more I truly believe there are several different causes, underlying conditions, etc. that make some of us more likely to get pre-e than others.

[sheri-ct]

My endocrinologist said the same thing and has me taking calcium with vit D. But who really knows???

[emersons mom]

My understanding is that the Vitamin D deficiency is correlated with auto-immune disorders as is pe......my mom has had low vitamin D levels in her blood work for the past few years and has been prescribed vitamin d supplements in scary high dosages to no avail.

While we are always looking for that "reason" and "fix" it seems like more information leads to more need for study....hoping you are healthy and not stressing over another test!

[blythe]

If I understand it right, there have been some studies that correlate low vitamin D levels with PE - but correlation doesn't necessarily means that it *causes* PE, it's just related.

Keep asking, I'm not sure if I answered your question enough!

[rachaelann]

this is most likely a question for Caryn but maybe others know some info too. At my last appointment my doctor said she wanted to draw blood to check my vitamin D levels. She said she recently read an article linking vitamin D deficiency to pe. is there any concrete evidence of this? thanks.