What happened to Vitamin D?

According to a recent report in the National press, it seems that there is a resurgence in Rickets, the disease which was prevalent around the time of Victorian Britain.

It is affecting one in five children, many of whom are from middle class backgrounds claim doctors.

Professor Nicholas Clarke, a surgeon from Southampton, said Rickets was making a comeback through all social classes.

The disease comes from a lack of vitamin D in the diet and more importantly poor exposure to sunlight. Makes the importance of getting kids outside playing and exercising all the more important.

Rickets can cause seizures and failure of the bones to grow properly and was thought to have died out after the 2nd world war although children in developing countries can still contract it.

Health Workers in Newcastle reported seeing more and more cases of the disease appearing.

Professor Clarke looked for issues in 200 children and said 'A lot of children we've seen have got low vitamin D and require treatment'.

'In my 22 years at Southampton General Hospital, this is a completely new occurrence in the south that has evolved over the last 12 to 24 months and we are seeing cases across the board, from areas of deprivation up to the middle classes, so there is a real need to get national attention focused on the dangers this presents.

'The return of rickets in northern parts of the UK came as a surprise despite the colder climate and lower levels of sunshine in the north, but what has developed in Southampton is quite astonishing.

'This is almost certainly a combination of the modern lifestyle, which involves a lack of exposure to sunlight, but also covering up in sunshine, and we're seeing cases that are very reminiscent of 17th-century England.

'We are facing the daunting prospect of an area like Southampton, where it is high income, middle class and leafy in its surroundings, seeing increasing numbers of children with rickets, which would have been inconceivable only a year or so ago' he added.

Vitamin D is known as the sunshine vitamin because it is made by the action of sunlight on the skin, and it is feared that children are spending too much time having 'screen time' playing on computers rather than outside with their friends.

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The original piece is here.