Mothers Taking Vitamin D, Fish Oil While Pregnant Lessens Risk of Developing Croup in Babies

New results from clinical tests recently showed that babies and young children below three years of age are less likely to develop croup if their mothers took vitamin D and fish oil supplements during pregnancy.

The findings have come from a randomized control trial, described in a EurekAelert! report as the "gold standard" for medical studies will be demonstrated at the European Respiratory Society International Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

It is the first-ever large study of its kind to examine the effects of fish oil and vitamin D on croup. Essentially, croup is a viral chest infection affecting young children. It's causing a characteristic "barking" cough, a hoarse voice, and difficulty breathing.

Croup in Children

Croup is common and usually mild, but some children will need hospital treatment and breathing support.

The research was presented by clinician and postdoctoral researcher Dr. Nicklas Brustad, who's working on the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood or COPSAC at Copenhagen University in Denmark.

The clinician and researcher also said that, at present, there is no vaccine against the pathogen that's causing the disease.

As a result, other preventive techniques are needed, and measures initiated during pregnancy might be essential since croup occurs in babies and young children.

Fish Oil and Vitamin D During Pregnancy

For this purpose, there is evidence that fish oil and vitamin D could impact the immune system.

This research included over 730 pregnant women cared for by COPSAC since 2010. The female participants were divided into four groups.

One group was given a high dose of vitamin D supplement and fish oil containing long-chain n-3-polyunsaturated fatty acids; the second group was given high-dose vitamin D and olive oil.

Then, the third group was provided with standard-dose vitamin D and olive oil. All the women, according to a similar Bioengnieer.org report, took the supplements every day from their 24th week of pregnancy until one week following the birth of their babies.

None of the researchers and women knew which supplements they were taking until the conclusion of the research.

The study authors followed the children until they were three years of age, and any suspected of experiencing croup were diagnosed by a doctor or through his medical records. There were 97 cases of croup in all among the children.

Inexpensive Yet Effective Supplements

In general, children whose mothers were given high-dose vitamin D had an 11-percent risk of croup, compared to 17 percent of children whose mothers took olive oil. Researchers recorded a 38-percent decrease, as The Sun specified in a similar report.

Children whose mothers took a high dose of vitamin D had an 11-percent risk of croup, compared to an 18-percent risk in those whose mothers were given the standard-dose vitamin D, a 40-percent decrease.

Dr. Brustad explained that their findings suggest that fish oil and vitamin D could be beneficial against childhood croup in adequately high doses.

These are somewhat low-cost supplements, which could be a very cost-efficient strategy for enhancing the health of young children.

Related information about taking fish oil during pregnancy is shown on Staten Island University Hospital's YouTube video below:

Check out more news and information on Pregnancy in Science Times.