Vitamin D in the first year of life may help children gain muscle mass and avoid excess body fat as toddlers, say researchers who were surprised to discover the link.
They were initially interested in confirming the importance of vitamin D for bone density when they uncovered the potential benefit of lower body fat.
“We were very intrigued by the higher lean mass, the possibility that vitamin D can help infants to not only grow healthy skeletons but also healthy amounts of muscle and less fat,” says Hope Weiler, director of the Mary Emily Clinical Nutrition Research Unit at McGill University.
The findings show a correlation between lean muscle mass and the average level of vitamin D in the body over the first three years.
