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Vitamin D and Skeletal Growth and Development

  • Evaluation and Management (M Kleerekoper, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Vitamin D is critical to bone mineral metabolism and to the growth and development of the skeleton. Optimizing vitamin D status could be one of the cornerstones to optimize skeletal growth and achieving the maximum peak bone mass soon after the completion of adolescence. Maximizing peak bone mass is considered to be the key to primary prevention of osteoporosis. There is controversy, however, about what constitutes a healthy vitamin D status based on the most abundant circulating metabolite of vitamin D, namely 25 hydroxyvitamin D (25 OHD) in plasma or serum; and even the value of 25 OHD that should be used to define vitamin D deficiency. We reviewed the recent data on circulating 25 OHD concentrations and its relationship with skeletal growth in apparently healthy children and in those with nutritional vitamin D deficiency.

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Conflict of Interest

W. Koo declares that he has no conflicts of interest. N. Walyat declares that he has no conflicts of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center–Shreveport, 1501 King’s Hwy, Shreveport, LA, 71103, USA

    Winston Koo & Nitin Walyat

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  1. Winston Koo
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  2. Nitin Walyat
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Correspondence to Winston Koo.

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Koo, W., Walyat, N. Vitamin D and Skeletal Growth and Development. Curr Osteoporos Rep 11, 188–193 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11914-013-0156-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11914-013-0156-1

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