The Vitamin D Antenatal Asthma Reduction Trial (VDAART), a five-year research study funded by the National Institutes of Health, will enroll women between 10-18 weeks of pregnancy and randomly divide them into two groups. One group will receive a typical prenatal vitamin with 400 units of vitamin D and a 4,000-unit vitamin D supplement. The other group will receive the same prenatal vitamin plus a placebo.

The trial seeks to enroll 870 women nationwide. Washington University School of Medicine seeks to enroll 290 women from its obstetrics and gynecology clinics and one outside clinic.

During the course of the study, patients will attend regular visits with their obstetrician, provide blood and urine samples and answer questionnaires about diet, pregnancy, sunlight exposure, physical activity, health and medications. Their children born during the study will be evaluated for asthma and recurrent wheezing at ages 1, 2 and 3.

"What's very attractive about this study is how simple it is," said George A. Macones, M.D., the Mitchell and Elaine Yanow Professor and head of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the School of Medicine and a co-investigator on the study. "We hope that supplementing mothers with extra Vitamin D during pregnancy will help to reduce risks of asthma in children and will improve children's health over the long term."

Source: Washington University School of Medicine