Latest concerns about Vitamin D deficiency. Check it out.

Check it out. Latest concerns about Vitamin D deficiency. BBC News reports that there has been an increase in childhood rickets over the past 15 years. "The chief medical officer for England, Dame Sally Davies, is to contact medical staff about concerns young children and some adults are not getting enough vitamin D. Government guidelines recommend some groups, including the under-fives, should take a daily supplement. However, recent research found that many parents and health professionals were unaware of the advice."

As well as the short video on that webpage, I believe you will find this one from a news report earlier this month even more interesting/alarming. That most health professionals are ill-informed in the matter of the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency is perhaps the most alarming aspect of the problem.

Taking vitamin D3 supplements certainly made a big difference to me: enabled me to rise from a chair without a monumental struggle was perhaps the most noticeable difference, and the ability to climb stairs more easily, and of course to feel stronger, and steadier on my feet. All my life doctors had given me the wrong information about vitamin D. Especially Dr Nigel Bax - now a professor, I believe. Although my chest X-ray at the time I saw him caused him to exclaim with shock that my ribs were almost transparent on the X-ray, he did his damnedest to warn me off taking vitamin D, and said if I did take any supplements, against his advice, the best time to take them was on an empty stomach before breakfast! - That too, was wrong. Fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) should be taken with or after a meal that contains healthy fat. His confident, strongly expressed, incorrect advice did me immeasurable harm. - I had osteomalacia. No wonder my ribs were hurting.

Rickets reported in Cardiff

BBC Wales reports that cases of the crippling children's bone disease rickets are being seen in Cardiff. "Caused by a lack of vitamin D, the disease can lead to deformities like bowed legs and stunted growth, but it largely disappeared last century. Eye on Wales has learnt health professionals working in communities in south Cardiff are reporting incidents."

Vitamin D deficiency can result in a host of serious health conditions, including susceptibility to colds and flu, overweight and dental problems. See Vitamin D Deficiency. Sunshine is a good source of vitamin D. Food sources include oily fish such as salmon and sardines, eggs, full fat natural yoghurt, whole milk and beef liver. Low fat diets are not healthy, but they are particularly bad for children. Your doctor can arrange for vitamin D level testing.

Birmingham launches Vitamin D Against Rickets drive

Birmingham is launching a Vitamin D Against Rickets drive. Well done to Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Trust, who have taken this important initiative to safeguard/improve the health of the children of Birmingham.

Rickets, in former times a disease of poverty and deprivation, has re-emerged in Birmingham and other parts of Britain, partly because of our chronic shortage of sunshine, partly because screening children from possible sunburn has been too zealous, and partly because the preponderance of processed foods and salty snacks makes modern-day children's meals less nutritious than they might be.

You've heard of rickety stairs, no doubt: rickety meaning shaky, not strong, weak, liable to break, etc. A child with rickets is recognisable by bowed legs as well as weakness and by the physical disabilities of this serious bone disease.

Safeguard your children's health by ensuring they get their share of sunshine when our summer eventually brings us some. And protect them from the harm that a salty food intake and ready meals with insufficient nutrition can do to them. Read Fat Retention and the consequences of salty food, insufficient calcium and insufficient Vitamin D. Read also about Salt Intake and Child Health. You can read further about Vitamin D and its many health benefits by clicking on the labels beneath this blogpost.

Survey about Vitamin D Deficiency

Many New Zealanders may be blocking out the health benefits of sunshine and becoming vitamin D deficient, researchers say. Growing evidence of vitamin D deficiency, including the re-emergence of childhood rickets, has prompted two health researchers to conduct an online survey of mothers and health professionals to find out how much they know about the essential vitamin. "There is emerging evidence that sections of the New Zealand population, ranging from newborn babies to the elderly, are vitamin D deficient," Massey University Vitamin D Research Centre co-director Pamela von Hurst said.
Read article in The New Zealand Herald
Comment: Vitamin D deficiency is becoming a worldwide problem. In the United States, Canada, the UK and throughout the EU, for example, deficiencies of the vitamin are now widespread. Anthony Norman, a professor emeritus of biochemistry and biomedical sciences and an international expert on vitamin D, notes that half the people in North America and Western Europe get insufficient amounts of vitamin D and that merely eating vitamin D-rich foods is not adequate to solve the problem.

Scientists call for worldwide policy change on daily recommendations for vitamin D intake

International experts have again called out for an increase in daily recommendations for Vitamin D, which they say is crucial to reduce the risk of a host of diseases. The latest call comes from scientists in Europe and the US, who say that higher intake levels of the vitamin could help protect against conditions such as childhood rickets, adult osteomalacia, cancer, autoimmune type-1 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, obesity and muscle weakness. Writing in the July 28 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine, the authors propose worldwide policy changes to increase recommended intake levels of the sunshine vitamin. This, they said, would reduce the frequency of certain diseases, increase longevity and reduce medical costs.
Read article at nutraingredients.com

The Department of Health warns that rickets is on the rise in children and advises extra Vitamin D.

Ministers warn on rickets on rise in children

Extract from the Telegraph:

"The disease is making a resurgence, a spokesman for the Department of Health has warned.

Studies suggest between seven and eight children per 100,000 have vitamin D deficiency. But just 15 minutes of summer sunlight a day is enough for the body to manufacture the required amounts.

Families who qualify for the Healthy Start scheme can obtain free supplements. Dawn Primarolo, the health minister, said: "We particularly encourage women who are pregnant or breastfeeding to take vitamin D, to protect the health and well-being of their baby.""

Babies kept out of the sun may be at risk of developing rickets.

Keeping babies sun-free increasing rickets risk - Telegraph

Extract:

"Protecting babies against skin cancer by keeping them out of the sun is putting them at risk of the crippling bone disease rickets, doctors have warned.

Breastfed infants need a top-up of vitamin D because they are no longer exposed to sufficient sunlight to generate the daily requirement themselves."


Also safeguard your children's health by feeding them meals low in salt. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html