Vitamin D and skeletal growth and development.

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.