Relationship between vitamin D knowledge and 25‐hydroxyvitamin D levels amongst pregnant women

Abstract

Background: Pregnant women living at northerly latitudes are at risk of suboptimal vitamin D status. There is a paucity of studies correlating knowledge, attitudes and practices of vitamin D with serum levels amongst pregnant women. We aimed to determine the prevalence of suboptimal vitamin D status in pregnant women of various ethnicities attending two Dublin maternity hospitals and to assess levels of knowledge, attitudes and practices concerning vitamin D. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 116 pregnant women of Irish, Asian, Sub-Saharan African and Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) origin. Vitamin D status was determined by measurement of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD). We examined knowledge, attitudes and practices concerning vitamin D using an interview-assisted questionnaire. Results: The median (interquartile range) 25OHD level was 25.9 (16.5-44.7) nmol L -1 . Using a cut-off point of <30 nmol L -1 , the proportion at

Knowledge and attitudes to vitamin D and sun exposure in elite New Zealand athletes: a cross-sectional study

“…Further, athletes generally had good knowledge of the sun as a source of vitamin D (76%) which was similar to previous findings in the general population [16,22,23]. However in contrast to the published research in the general population, a smaller proportion of participants could name a correct food source or supplements as a source of vitamin D in the present study [16,22,24]. Although vitamin D intake from food sources alone would not provide sufficient vitamin D for optimal serum concentrations, intake from food could assist when sun exposure is limited.…”

What Do People Know and Believe about Vitamin D?

“…Although 30% of participants did not mention sun exposure (primary source of VitD [40]), this source was the most frequently cited, consistently with previous studies in which high proportions of people associated sunshine with VitD [19,24,28,29,32,34,35]. …”

“…In our population, as in previous studies [19,21,28,29,32,33,34,35,36], knowledge regarding VitD dietary sources was insufficient and contrasted, depending on the source. Fatty fish, cod liver oil or fortified dairy products were known by 50%–60% of our participants while regular dairy products, offal or eggs were only known by 20%–30%.…”

“…Some confusion was also observed since 18% of participants cited olive oil and 5%–10% lean fish or chicken while they contain no/very little VitD. Incorrect VitD sources such as fruits, vegetables, soya or rice were also cited in previous studies [28,32,34,36]. …”

“…Such information would be of interest for practitioners and public health institutions to improve the communication regarding VitD. Previous studies performed in several countries (mostly targeting specific groups) showed that VitD-related knowledge was limited [19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36]. To our knowledge, no study was performed in a large European sample from the general population and few linked VitD-related knowledge to various individual characteristics (including measured VitD status).…”