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Vitamins and plant ingredients

Prenatal exposure to vitamin-D from fortified margarine and milk and body size at age 7 years

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 69, pages 1169–1175 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

Prenatal vitamin-D deficiency may be associated with increased risk of obesity later in life. Using two national vitamin-D fortification programs as the setting for a societal experiment, we investigated whether exposure to vitamin-D from fortified margarine and low-fat milk during foetal life was associated with body size at 7 years of age.

Subjects/Methods:

Vitamin-D fortification of margarine was mandatory in Denmark from 1961 to 1985, and voluntary fortification of low-fat milk was permitted from 1972 to 1976. Using information on body mass index (BMI) Z-score at the age of 7 years of 54 270 children, who were measured during the mandatory Copenhagen School Health examination, we compared children according to whether the mothers were pregnant during the fortification programs or not. The comparisons were performed for children born just before and after initiation or termination of margarine and milk fortification periods, respectively. In total four sets of analyses were performed.

Results:

We observed no difference in mean BMI Z-score between children exposed to vitamin-D fortification in utero and non-exposed children. Similar results were observed for overweight and obesity.

Conclusions:

Prenatal exposure to vitamin-D from fortification of margarine and low-fat milk showed no association with body size at 7 years.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Danish Agency for Science Technology and Innovation, the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education, under the instruments ‘Strategic research projects’ and by a research grant from the Danish Ph.D. School of Molecular Metabolism funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

DISCLOSURE

The supporting bodies for this project had no role in the design, implementation, analysis and interpretation of the data presented.

Author Contributions

BLH conceived the research idea; CBJ performed the statistical analysis and had primary responsibility for the final content. All authors designed the research, wrote the paper, read and approved the final manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Preventive Medicine, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, The Capital Region, Copenhagen, Denmark

    C B Jensen, M Gamborg, T L Berentzen, T I A Sørensen & B L Heitmann

  2. Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    C B Jensen

  3. Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    T I A Sørensen

  4. The Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise & Eating Disorders, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    B L Heitmann

  5. National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

    B L Heitmann

Authors
  1. C B Jensen
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  2. M Gamborg
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  3. T L Berentzen
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  4. T I A Sørensen
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  5. B L Heitmann
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to C B Jensen.

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Jensen, C., Gamborg, M., Berentzen, T. et al. Prenatal exposure to vitamin-D from fortified margarine and milk and body size at age 7 years. Eur J Clin Nutr 69, 1169–1175 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2015.55

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2015.55

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