Children are likely to be physically stronger if their mothers had high levels of vitamin D in their bodies while pregnant with them, a new study suggests.

Previous research has found a link between low vitamin D levels and reduced muscle strength in both children and adults. However until now, little has been known about the effect a pregnant woman's vitamin D levels can have on her child.

Vitamin D deficiency, which had all but been eradicated in Ireland in the last century as a result of better nutrition, now appears to be re-emerging. This is mainly due to the fact that vitamin D is mainly produced in the body by exposure to sunlight. However, Ireland's northerly latitude means that there is often not enough sunlight to do this.

Also, while vitamin D is available from some dietary sources, such as oily fish and fortified breakfast cereals, these foods do not tend to be consumed in sufficient enough quantities. Supplements can be taken as an alternative.

UK researchers decided to investigate the role of pregnant women in relation to their children's subsequent strength. They measured the vitamin D levels of 678 mothers who were in the later stages of pregnancy.

When their children reached four years of age, their muscle mass and grip strength were measured.

The study found that the higher the vitamin D levels of the mother when she was pregnant, the higher the grip strength of their child at the age of four. These children also had a higher muscle mass, although this link was not as pronounced.

"These associations between maternal vitamin D and offspring muscle strength may well have consequences for later health. Muscle strength peaks in young adulthood before declining in older age and low grip strength in adulthood has been associated with poor health outcomes including diabetes, falls and fractures," explained Dr Nicholas Harvey of the University of Southampton.

He said that it is likely that this greater muscle strength seen in the children at four years of age ‘will track into adulthood'. This, he suggested, will ‘potentially help to reduce the burden of illness associated with loss of muscle mass in old age'.

Details of these findings are published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

For more information on pregnancy, see our Pregnancy Clinic here