Vitamin D supply in infancy, childhood, and adolescence. Abbreviated version of the statement issued by the Nutrition Committee of the German Society of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine

Current national and international publications describe a suboptimal vitamin D intake or an inadequate vitamin D status in all age groups. The aim of this statement is to summarize the available literature and evidence for reference values of vitamin D intake and vitamin D supply as well as for the current consumption. On this basis, recommendations for infants, children, and adolescents living in Germany were developed. Reasonable measures for achieving an improved vitamin D status are: protected sunlight exposure, intensive physical activity (at least 1 h daily) outside, and increase of vitamin D intake via supplements. Special attention is given to risk groups (children nourished on a vegetarian diet, migrants, persons with limited sunlight exposure, and chronically ill persons) for which regular control of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels has to be considered. A systematic supervision of vitamin D supply in childhood and adolescence and a cost-benefit analysis of recommended or conducted measures should be performed. In the following an abbreviated version of the statement of the Nutrition Committee of the German Society of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (DGKJ) is printed. The full version is published under http://www.dgkj.de.