From the publishers of The New England Journal of Medicine

Save time and stay informed. Our physician-editors offer you clinical perspectives on key research and news.

Like this article?

Get your free daily medical news from Physician's First Watch.

RSS

AAP Guidelines Recommend Doubling Children's Vitamin D Intake

The American Academy of Pediatrics has doubled the recommended daily vitamin D intake from 200 IU to 400 IU for infants, children, and adolescents.

The report, published online in Pediatrics, updates guidelines from 2003. It recommends that the following groups receive daily vitamin D supplements of 400 IU:

  • infants who are breast-fed (supplementation should begin in the first days of life and continue until the infant is drinking at least 1 liter of vitamin D–fortified formula or milk daily)
  • formula-fed infants and older children who drink less than 1 liter per day of vitamin D–fortified formula or milk
  • adolescents who do not consume enough fortified milk and food

Some groups are at higher risk for rickets (e.g., those who are taking anticonvulsants or have darker skin, low sunlight exposure, or chronic fat malabsorption) and, thus, may need more than 400 IU per day.

LINK(S):

Pediatrics article (Free PDF)

Published in Physician's First Watch October 15, 2008

Reader Remarks:

Read all Reader Remarks on this article

Your Remark:

Reader Remarks are intended to encourage lively discussion of clinical topics with your peers in the medical community. Please consider this when composing your remark.

Fields marked with an * are required.

Name as you'd like it to appear:

Submitting a comment indicates you have read and agreed to the remark guidelines and declare:*

PRIVACY: We will not use your email address, submitted for a comment, for any other purpose nor sell, rent, or share your e-mail address with any third parties. Please see our Privacy Policy.

 

CLEAR erases anything you've added in any part of the form. CONTINUE allows you to check your entire post (and edit it if necessary) before submitting.

To ensure that your Reader Remark is not formatted as one long paragraph, precede new paragraphs with either a blank line or an indentation.

Search

Advanced

Article Tools

Reader Remarks

(more...)

Sign-In

Forgot your password?

New to Journal Watch?

E-mail Alerts

Delivered to your inbox.
Tailored to your interests. Free.

Sign Up Now!

Journal Watch Newsletters

Available in 13 specialties with convenient delivery and 10 free online CME exams.

Subscribe Now!

Copyright © 2008. Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.