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May 26
2009
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Rickets is Back With a VengeancePosted by Ron Wilson in vitamin d, UV-B rays, sunlight, rickets |
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When I was a kid, we played outside every day from about April to November and if it wasn't too cold in the winter, our mothers sent us out in the snow. Today, kids are inside playing video games, watching movies, surfing the Internet and simply not getting the sunlight and vitamin D they need to maintain their personal health.
While I don't want to turn this into a story about how I had to walk ten miles to school (it was actually only eight), I think this downturn in sun exposure could translate into a downturn for our children's health.
In the early 1920s, it was Johns Hopkins researcher Elmer McCollum who discovered the connetion between rickets and vitamin D. In fact, it was McCollum who "discovered" vitamin D by curing rickets after heating cod-liver oil (a commonly-believed cure at the time), which destroyed its vitamin A properties, but left an unknown nutrient. McCollumn named it D, since vitamins B and C had recently been discovered.
Although most of our milk products, and even eggs, are fortified with vitamin D, it doesn't seem to be enough to stop this previously eradicated disease. Another alarming statistic cited in the article linked above (Vitamin D Levels in Kids are So Low that Rickets is Back with a Vengeance) is that kids' bones are developing normally, but are significantly softer.
The consequence of lower vitamin D is more breaks. Forty-six percent more girls are breaking their arms than compared to 40 years ago and 32 percent more boys. Scientists and doctors believe this may be the result of widespread vitamin D deficiency, which has been brought about because of reduced sun exposure.
With kids either staying inside or being constantly lathered with sunscreen, they're simply not getting the sun exposure they need. And truthfully, it's not that much - just 10-15 minutes of direct sunlight 2-3 days per week to get those all-important UV-B rays. By increasing a kid's vitamin D levels, we can reduce rickets, and even prevent future diseases from occurring when they're adults.
While I don't want to turn this into a story about how I had to walk ten miles to school (it was actually only eight), I think this downturn in sun exposure could translate into a downturn for our children's health.
In the early 1920s, it was Johns Hopkins researcher Elmer McCollum who discovered the connetion between rickets and vitamin D. In fact, it was McCollum who "discovered" vitamin D by curing rickets after heating cod-liver oil (a commonly-believed cure at the time), which destroyed its vitamin A properties, but left an unknown nutrient. McCollumn named it D, since vitamins B and C had recently been discovered.
Although most of our milk products, and even eggs, are fortified with vitamin D, it doesn't seem to be enough to stop this previously eradicated disease. Another alarming statistic cited in the article linked above (Vitamin D Levels in Kids are So Low that Rickets is Back with a Vengeance) is that kids' bones are developing normally, but are significantly softer.
The consequence of lower vitamin D is more breaks. Forty-six percent more girls are breaking their arms than compared to 40 years ago and 32 percent more boys. Scientists and doctors believe this may be the result of widespread vitamin D deficiency, which has been brought about because of reduced sun exposure.
With kids either staying inside or being constantly lathered with sunscreen, they're simply not getting the sun exposure they need. And truthfully, it's not that much - just 10-15 minutes of direct sunlight 2-3 days per week to get those all-important UV-B rays. By increasing a kid's vitamin D levels, we can reduce rickets, and even prevent future diseases from occurring when they're adults.
