17 May 2011 - London - Vitamin D and Obstetrics: Improving Pregnancy and Childbirth

Come to the Wellcome Trust Conference Centre on May 17th and meet some of the world’s foremost experts in Vitamin D and pregnancy, childbirth and infants.

About Vitamin D:

Vitamin D is a hormone that regulates more than a tenth of human genes and plays a key role in skeletal health as well as ensuring that cells throughout the body function. The sun is the primary source. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with osteoporosis, some cancers, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, insulin resistance, hypertension, heart disease, respiratory infections, muscle weakness, mood and cognitive function plus infectious diseases such as influenza. There is strong evidence that higher levels of Vitamin D lead to easier conception, easier pregnancy, less gestational diabetes, less pre-eclampsia, reduced risk of emergency C-sections and an easier delivery, followed by less depression in the mother and a larger, healthier baby. There is also evidence that the risk of Type-1 Diabetes in the child is reduced and that the child will have stronger bones and teeth. The re-emergence of childhood rickets in the UK has recently highlighted concerns about vitamin D deficiency. It is only recently that there has been any acknowledgement that mothers and babies could both be vitamin D deficient. Unlike North America, the UK does not have any significant fortification of the food supply with Vitamin D. As the population becomes more compliant with messages about "sun safety", and as lifestyles become more sedentary and less time is spent outdoors, it is not surprising to see vitamin D levels dropping across the population. In some circles there is talk of a world-wide epidemic of vitamin D deficiency. Come and hear some of the world's most foremost experts in this subject report on their research and their recommendations.

• Hear about Level 1 Randomised Controlled Trials where large amounts of Vitamin D have been given to women during pregnancy. This resulted in significant reductions in gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia and emergency C-sections – and larger, healthier babies.
• Hear how a multi-disciplinary team in Birmingham has been working for more than 5 years to implement the UK Healthy Start programme of multi-vitamins for pregnant women and their babies, including their successes and the challenges encountered.
• Hear about a large cohort study of the Vitamin D levels in children who were given Vitamin D in the first year of their life and their prevalence of type I diabetes assessed at age 31.
• Hear about a recent study looking at Vitamin D levels in children from birth to 12 years of age, plus pregnant and lactating women. The response of these populations to large doses of Vitamin D will be compared to a control group.
• Hear about research on the role that Vitamin D plays in many illnesses and especially gestational diabetes, plus toxicity and safe blood serum levels.
• Participate in an open discussion about new treatment guidelines and protocols.
• Share your knowledge and clinical experiences.

Speakers include:

Professor Bruce Hollis is the director of Paediatric Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina and has studied vitamin D metabolism and nutrition for the past 35 years. He will discuss findings from his recent research on vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Dr Reinhold Vieth is Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, and the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Toronto. He is an internationally recognized expert on the clinical nutrition of vitamin D as well as its pharmacology and safety. His research has followed vitamin D from the basic science lab to bone health and osteoporosis and cancer. His current focus includes the role of vitamin D deficiency in gestational diabetes and multiple sclerosis, including clinical trials of vitamin D treatment.

Dr Elina Hyppönen is a Reader in Epidemiology and Public Health at the UCL Institute of Child Health. She has an interdisciplinary academic training, with degrees in epidemiology, medical statistics, nutrition and public health. She is an author for over 50 high profile publications/book chapters, and currently runs several large projects with focus on evaluating short- and long-term health effects of vitamin D.

Carole Baggerly set up www.GrassRootsHealth.net after she met with researchers in the University of California, San Diego and discovered the significant role that Vitamin D plays in the prevention and treatment of many illnesses. This presentation will address the findings from a subset of the study population, children in the birth-12 years of age population and pregnant and lactating women. The dose-response curves of these populations will be compared to the total group of 3500.

Eleanor McGee is the public health nutrition lead at Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Trust, running the UK Healthy Start Vitamin D project. They are offering all pregnant women, new mothers with a child under one and children under four-years-old free vitamins for the first time ever.

Dr Oliver Gillie is a scientist and writer. He is former medical correspondent of The Sunday Times and former health editor of The Independent. His work over the last eight years has been to pass on information about vitamin D insufficiency to scientists, doctors, and journalists and to lobby government and organisations such as Cancer Research UK for a rational evidence-based public health policy on sunlight and Vitamin D. More at: www.healthresearchforum.org.uk

Dr William B Grant runs the Sunlight, Nutrition and Health Research Center www.sunarc.org This is devoted to research and education relating to the prevention of chronic disease through changes in diet and lifestyle. Dr Grant has identified 100 types of disease for which vitamin D reduces risk. He will talk about the estimated health benefit of increased vitamin D status and how it reduces the economic burden of disease in Western Europe.

Dr Vandana Jain will speak about the high prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency and secondary hyperparathyroidism among healthy term breastfed 3 month-old infants and their mothers in sunny India. She will also review Vitamin D deficiency in adolescent girls, pregnant women and small for gestational age infants, plus the role of Vitamin D deficiency in infant hypocalcemic seizures, florid rickets and cardiomyopathy.

Dr David Grimes is a consultant Gastroenterologist at Blackburn Hospital in the UK. In his book Vitamin D and cholesterol – the importance of the sun he writes about treating many immigrants from South Asia to the UK and their children. He shows the importance of Vitamin D for the developing foetus and the implications for infections, diabetes, heart disease, liver disease and Crohn’s disease. You can see more at: www.vitamindandcholesterol.com

Further details including a full programme, costs and registration form may be downloaded from the link below.

You may also register online by clicking the link at the top of this page.