Low Maternal Vitamin D Status and Fetal Bone Development: Cohort Study.

The article presents a study which suggests that maternal vitamin D insufficiency can influence fetal femoral development as early as 19 weeks' gestation. To determine whether maternal vitamin D insufficiency affects fetal femur growth, the researchers looked at 424 pregnant within a prospective longitudinal study of maternal nutrition and lifestyle before and during pregnancy. They found that lower maternal 25-hydroxyvitamin vitamin D concentration was associated with greater femoral metaphyseal cross-sectional area and higher femoral splaying index.