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Metabolic effects of maternal vitamin D in pregnancy and reduced risk of childhood asthma

Published: August 7, 2023

Vitamin D plays a crucial role in bone metabolism, but it also has immune regulatory properties. Thus, recent studies have shown that insufficient vitamin D during pregnancy may affect the fetal immune system and lung development, making the child more susceptible to develop asthma later in life. However, the underlying mechanisms of insufficient vitamin D during pregnancy on risk of childhood asthma development remain elusive. Addressing this issue could have a significant public health impact by reducing the burden of childhood asthma.

A recent study published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI), by Kim et al. conducted a comprehensive analysis on the metabolic effects of increasing vitamin D levels in pregnancy, and investigated whether the vitamin D-related metabolome plays a critical protective role in childhood asthma development. The study included 672 mothers and their 671 offspring followed prospectively for development of wheeze/asthma until 6 years of age, from the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood 2010 (COPSAC2010). The study utilized the Vitamin D Antenatal Asthma Reduction Trial (VDAART) cohort for validation purposes.

Higher vitamin D blood levels at birth were associated with a distinct maternal metabolic fingerprint driven by a particular lipid species, called sphingomyelins. This vitamin D-related maternal metabolic profile was associated with decreased risk of recurrent wheeze and wheeze exacerbations in the offspring at ages 0 to 3 years. The same vitamin D-related metabolic profile was similarly associated with a decreased risk of asthma/wheeze at ages 0 to 3 in VDAART.

These results from two independent birth cohorts highlight the beneficial effect of higher gestational vitamin D on offspring respiratory health, which is characterized by sphingomyelin metabolism, suggesting the potential of targeting maternal sphingomyelins as a part of novel prenatal preventive strategies for reducing the incidence of childhood asthma.

The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI) is an official scientific journal of the AAAAI, and is the most-cited journal in the field of allergy and clinical immunology.

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