Bright Sunshining Day!

Days like today don't come often enough in the Northern Hemisphere during the winter. It's finally a beautiful sunny day, but is the sun in the north strong enough to be beneficial? I ask because today, I read an article about a study done on pregnant women looking at the effects of insufficient Vitamin D intake and the unborn child's development, mainly its language development. You can read more about it here : Vitamin D study.

I'm not sure how strong the effect of Vitamin D is on language development (and I say that because many other factors can apply, like mother's education level or socioeconomic status, because the mothers were observed, thus some mothers decided to supplement and some didn't) but it is definitely important for pregnant women (and breastfeeding women) to supplement with Vitamin D, especially if seeing the sun is a rare event. 

What is known about the Vitamin is that it is not found in many foods (mainly in oily fish like salmon and tuna, as well as some fortified products); helps the absorption of calcium thus leading to stronger bones; and Vitamin D can be produced in the skin with the help of UV rays from the sun. 

So whether you are expecting, breastfeeding little ones or just don't like the taste of fish, talk to a health professional about Vitamin D supplementation.


Hope you have enjoyed the nutribit of the day, keep coming back for more, and please comment if you have any questions!
Have a great sunny day (that is if you are in Toronto, or lucky enough to see the sun shining today :) )