Summertime — and the growing is easy

MOTHERS who are pregnant in the summer have taller, stronger-boned babies because they benefit from the sun’s vitamin-boosting rays, a childhood study has revealed.

Those born in the late summer and early autumn are about half a centimetre taller and have wider bones than their peers born in winter and spring, an 18-year project found.

Expectant mothers lucky enough to be blooming in the hot months should get enough sun to boost their vitamin D levels just by walking around outside or sunbathing.

But winter parents should consider taking vitamin supplements, researchers at Bristol University recommended.

Anyone thinking of trying to shortcut the process by sitting on a sunbed for the final weeks of their pregnancy would be doing themselves no good.

Sunbeds emit mainly UVA light, whereas it is natural UVB rays from the sun that triggers Vitamin D production, study spokeswoman Sally Watson said. Sun bed users also face well-publicised risks.

Ms Watson said: “Perhaps people shouldn’t be quite so terrified of the sun. There’s been a lot of panic about skin cancer, but people don’t need to panic about the odd few minutes of exposure. A little controlled sun is better than none. Or go to the Bahamas.”

Researchers looked at the likely sun exposure of the mothers of 7,000 children in the last three months of pregnancy.

The youngsters were measured and given X-ray scans at age 10 to determine their bone density.

Children born to mothers with the highest sun exposure were half a centimetre taller on average, and had 12.75cm extra bone area due to increases in bone width, compared with children born in the darkest months.

Taller people tend to have wider bones, but these children had increased bone width “over and above” that accounted for by their extra height, the team discovered.

The researchers say the increase in bone mass can be put down to vitamin D levels.

Sunlight on the skin generates vitamin D, which works together with calcium to build bones. For most people, sunlight is their main source of vitamin D.

The figures prove that vitamin D is important for bone-building even in the womb.