Twenty women dressed in the western style and 22 in the regional Islamic style (head, neck and face covered except from eyebrows to chin, long sleeved, and ankle length dress and stockings) who applied for routine control of their babies in December-January or in April were taken into the study. Plasma and breast milk samples were batch assayed on a high pressure liquid chromatography for plasma total vitamin D, vitamin D2 and vitamin D3, and breast milk total vitamin D levels. Significant (p<0.0001, p<0.0001, p<0.0001, respectively) differences were found in plasma total vitamin D, vitamin D2 and vitamin D3 levels between women dressed in the western and the local Islamic styles. The difference was also significant (p<0.0l8) between their breast milk total vitamin D levels. The significantly low levels of vitamin D3 in the plasma of the latter group, might indicate that in situ synthesis of the vitamin by ultraviolet radiation Is less; however, both groups seem to benefit from vitamin D3 of animal origin in equal amounts, since no difference was found between their blood and breast milk levels in December-January and April samples. The highest correlation (r=0.964) was found between total Vitamin D levels of breast milk and plasma samples obtained in April; then the correlation (r=0.782) between plasma and breast milk of women dressed in the western style, and the correlation (r=0.772) between the samples obtained in December-January, and lastly the correlation (r=0.759) between breast milk and plasma of women dressed in the local Islamic style. The correlation (r=0.785) between breast milk and plasma samples of the total cases was also high (r=0.785). Findings (in ng/ml), relation equations and polynomial curves are given in Tables l and II and Figure (l a, b, c, d, e).
Keywords: 25(OH)D2, 25(OH)D3, plasma, breast milk, dressing style