Vitamin D and Female Reproduction

Vitamin D deficiency has an impact on the reproduction of more than 40% of repro‐ ductive age women globally. Fibroids are more common among African‐American females owing to their decreased milk consumption and reduced absorption of ultraviolet rays, supporting the relation between vitamin D deficiency and fibroid development. Vitamin D has an inhibitory effect on leiomyoma cells by suppression of proliferation cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), BCL‐2, BCL‐w, CDK1, and catechol‐O‐ methyltransferase (COMT) protein levels. A growing evidence support the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and endometriosis through overexpression of vitamin D recseptor (VDR) and α‐hydroxylase enzyme, however, it is still unclear if the endome‐ triosis patients could benefit from vitamin D supplementation. Effect of vitamin D supplementation on the metabolic outcomes of polycystic ovary (PCO) has been studied and reveled that it is negatively correlated with fasting glucose, fasting insulin, triglycerides, C‐reactive protein, free androgen index, and Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEAS) and positively associated with quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐C), and sexual hormone binding globulin (SHBG), whereas its impact on the ovarian function is still unclear. Vitamin D deficiency may worse the obstetrical outcomes, including preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, low birth weight, increased cesarean section rate, neonatal asthma, seizures, and preterm labor. The relationship between serum levels of 25‐hydroxy‐vitamin D (25(OH) D) and pregnancy rates in ART is still debatable, with the need to conduct more clinical trials toward it. The in vitro antiproliferative and prodifferentiative effect of vitamin D might find a role in control of hyperplastic overactive bladder. Several studies support that vitamin D deficiency constitutes a risk factor for development of many types of cancer such as breast, ovarian, and colorectal. © 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.