Can vitamin D or calcium deficiency affect pregnancy?-Dr. H S Chandrika

Vitamin D deficiency and calcium deficiency can affect pregnancy in various ways. Actually Vitamin D and calcium are complimentary to each other. It is the Vitamin D which helps in the absorption of calcium and the deficiency of Vitamin D and calcium have effect on the baby and the mother in different ways. So when we come to the baby, deficiency of Vitamin D and calcium will have effects on the skeletal heathy of the baby. It can help on the development of the bones. It is supposed to reduce the immune system if there is any deficiency. If there is deficiency of Vitamin D and calcium in the mother it can have effect on the bone health of the mother, it can affect on the immune system, that is it is known to reduce the immunity in cases of deficiency. It is known to have various other problem using pregnancy and labor too, coming to the other problems. It can have effects on the secretion of insulin and on the sensitivity to insulin. These two factors may create the incidence of GDM to become more in these deficiencies, also we have seen that there is increased incidence of PIH due to the deficiency of Vitamin D. Other than all these things, there may be some problems in the labor, which can lead to more increased incidence of caesarean section too.