SCIENCE

Notebook

Vitamin D Helps From the Start

Children of women who maintained high Vitamin D levels while pregnant have bigger, stronger and more calcium-rich bones than those of other children at age 9, new research finds.

The study suggests that Vitamin D levels in pregnant women may have a greater impact on children's eventual risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures than drinking more milk or other common approaches to building bones.

Previous studies have shown that women with larger bodies, better nutritional habits and good exercise habits have babies with greater bone mass -- a major protective factor against bone-weakening osteoporosis later in life. At least one study had also shown that Vitamin D supplements given to prematurely born babies during their first year resulted in stronger bones at age 12. But no one had tested the effects of prenatal Vitamin D levels.

Researchers in England measured bone mass and density in 198 9-year-olds born to women who had participated in an unrelated clinical study that collected information on dietary and other habits while they were pregnant. That analysis had found that about half the women had lower than optimal Vitamin D levels.

The new tests showed that children of the Vitamin D-deficient women had significantly lower bone mineral content and density. But neither milk intake nor physical activity in childhood was correlated with later bone strength.

How to get maternal Vitamin D levels up? Only two factors appeared useful in the study: living in a place with a high number of sunny days (the body needs ultraviolet light to make Vitamin D) or taking vitamin supplements.

-- Rick Weiss

Fish Preserve Aids Coral Reef

Marine preserves set up to protect fish may also protect coral reefs, new research suggests.

Peter J. Mumby of the University of Exeter in England and colleagues studied the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park in the Bahamas to determine how a ban on fishing affected the reef there.

Biologists were concerned that the fishing ban would lead to a dramatic increase in the number of Nassau grouper, which prey on parrotfish. The colorful parrotfish are crucial to the health of the reef because they clean it by grazing on algae.