Low levels of vitamin D during pregnancy could increase the chances of C-section.

A two year study was conducted by Michael Holick, MD, PhD, and colleagues of Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center. The researchers were trying to establish a link between vitamin D levels in pregnant women and Caesarean section. e 253 women were involved in the research. Out of these 43 (17 percent) had a Caesarean section.

It was found that 28 percent of women with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25 (OH) D] less than 37.5 nmol/L had a Caesarean section. But only 14 percent of women with 25
(OH) D greater than 37.5 nmol/L had a C section.

"In our analysis, pregnant women who were vitamin D-deficient at the time of delivery had almost four time the odds of Caesarean birth than women who were not deficient," study author Dr. Michael Holick, director of the General Clinical Research Center, a professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics, and an assistant professor of medicine, said in a medical center news release.

But maternal-fetal medicine specialist Carl P. Weiner, MD, opines that more research is required before coming to a conclusion and making recommendations. He also said that since the research was carried out on a small group of people, it limited the researchers ability to come to any conclusion. Furthermore, if the findings were correct then more seasons would have an effect on the number of women undergoing C-section. The number would increase in winters and decrease in summers.