Correlation between calcium and phosphorus in cord blood and birth size in term infants.

Background: Calcium supplementation during pregnancy was suggested to affect fetal growth. We aimed to investigate the association between calcium and phosphorus in cord blood and birth size parameters in term infants.

Methods: The study included 70 pregnant women and their neonates.

Vitamin D status of exclusively breastfed 4-month-old infants supplemented during different seasons.

Objective: To examine the vitamin D status of 4-month-old exclusively breastfed infants supplemented with 400 IU daily of vitamin D and to determine whether there was any seasonal variation in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels of infants.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, serum calcium, phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase, parathyroid hormone, and 25(OH)D levels of 143 exclusively breastfed 4-month-old infants supplemented daily with 400 IU of vitamin D were measured in a temperate latitude, Izmir, Turkey, between May 2008 and April 2009. A questionnaire on demographic characteristics of infants and mothers, vitamin D supplementation of infants after birth, mothers' multivitamin supplementation, dressing habits, and consumption of dairy products during pregnancy was used.

Maternal and cord blood homocysteine and folic acid levels in smoking and nonsmoking pregnant women.

Introduction: The homocysteine level in blood is affected by gender, diet, smoking, folic acid and B-complex vitamins. It is known that higher than normal homocysteine levels in plasma may cause vascular endothelium dysfunction, resulting in the promotion of thrombus formation. In our study, we aimed to assess the effects of smoking during pregnancy on the homocysteine and folic acid levels of the mother and baby.