Rickets' comeback alarming

[Guest guest]

[i'm sure Dr. Mercola will pick up on this article and post to his blog &

newsletter soon]

[Vitamin D commentary from Mercola for a different study follows this news

item below]

 

Rickets' comeback alarming

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040618/HRICKETS\

18/TPHealth/

 

By ANDRÉ PICARD

PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTER

Friday, June 18, 2004 - Page A17

 

MONTREAL -- Rickets, a bone-wrenching childhood condition that virtually

disappeared from Canada more than a generation ago, is making an alarming

comeback, warns the Canadian Paediatric Society.

 

At least 84 children -- a number described as the " tip of the iceberg " --

have been diagnosed in the past two years with rickets, according to data

released yesterday.

 

Ironically, the upsurge in cases is due principally to two health-promoting

measures: breastfeeding; and sun screen, which interferes with the

formation of vitamin D. Rickets is caused by vitamin D deficiency and

breast milk is rich in many nutrients, but not vitamin D.

 

That is why it is recommended that all breastfed babies be given a daily

supplement of vitamin D. Breastfeeding mothers should also take a vitamin D

supplement.

 

" Breast milk is indisputably, undeniably, unquestionably the best fluid

source for infants, and we're not disputing that, " said Leanne Ward, a

pediatric endocrinologist at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in

Ottawa.

 

" But children who are breastfed should take a supplement of 400

international units [iU] of vitamin D from birth until they start drinking

milk. " (All milk sold in Canada is fortified with vitamin D.)

 

Rickets is a serious disease in which children's bones soften and break.

Vitamin D regulates the body's ability to use calcium, which is required

for building bone, and without which the skeleton literally collapses. The

first symptom of rickets is convulsions. Limb pain and broken bones are

commonplace. Left untreated, rickets causes permanent skeletal damage.

 

Dr. Ward said the 84 diagnosed cases are the " tip of the iceberg " and each

case is a tragedy because the condition is easily preventable.

 

The study, released yesterday at the Paediatric Society annual meeting in

Montreal, revealed that rickets is seen principally in dark-skinned

children, particularly black children and aboriginal children who live in

the Far North. Dark skin blocks the absorption of vitamin D from the

ultraviolet rays of the sun. The Canadian Paediatric Society recommends

that children in the North take at least 800 IU of vitamin D daily in the

winter.

 

Charles Scriver, a biochemical geneticist at the Montreal Children's

Hospital who treated many children with the condition in the 1960s, said

Canadians cannot afford to be complacent about rickets. " Some of you are

asking: 'Why all the fuss over 84 cases?' Do you want to wait for the

flood, or deal with this today? " he said.

 

" Don't you dare say: 'It's only 84 cases.' This is entirely preventable.

There shouldn't be a single case, " Dr. Scriver said.

 

While rickets is the most immediate result of vitamin D deficiency, there

is increasing evidence that it contributes to other serious health

conditions, such as cancer, diabetes and osteoporosis. One study suggested

that vitamin D deficiency plays a role in 13 types of cancer and, if

everyone consumed adequate amounts of the vitamin, there would be 3,000

fewer cases of cancer in Canada annually.

 

The new research was restricted to children under six years of age, but Dr.

Ward said vitamin D deficiency is a growing problem among adolescents,

particularly those who consume soft drinks instead of milk. (Vitamin D can

also be found in orange juice, wheat products and dark fish, such as salmon.)

 

" I'm seeing patients in my bone-health clinic who have subclinical vitamin

D deficiency, " she said. " There is real lack of milk ingestion underlying

this problem. "

 

======================

 

Even Experts Don't Understand How Common Vitamin D Deficiency Is

http://mercola.com/blog/2004/jun/17/Even_Experts_Don't_Understand_How_Common_Vit\

amin_D_Deficiency_Is

 

Vitamin D deficiency is an extremely common, largely unrecognized and

dangerous problem among U.S. adolescents. Among 11- to 18-year-olds living

in Boston, researchers say nearly one-quarter were deficient in vitamin D

and nearly 5 percent were severely deficient. But the numbers here are

seriously skewed. Why? Because the researchers used 15 ng/mL as the

definition of deficient. Your vitamin D level should NEVER be below 32

ng/ml. Any levels below 20 ng/ml are considered serious defiency status and

will increase your risk of breast and prostate cancers and autoimmune

diseases like MS and rheumatoid arthritis. By using a slightly broader

definition of deficiency (20 ng/mL), 42 percent were vitamin D deficient,

but if you use 32 ng/ml, as it should have been, many more kids are at

risk. African-American adolescents are even more at risk--even using the

researchers' skewed values 36 percent were deficient. Optimal vitamin D

levels are 45-50 ng/ml--way above the researchers " normal " level of 15 or 20.

 

This is a major issue because as it stands most kids will never be screened

for vitamin D status, and for that matter neither will their parents. If

you are interested in preventing the host of diseases associated with

vitamin D deficiency, I urge you to have your levels tested. But be aware

that nearly all physicians are not aware how to have this checked and how

to interpret the normal reference ranges. So print out the article on

<http://mercola.com//blog/2004/jun/17/Even_Experts_Don't_Understand_How_Common_V\

itamin_D_Deficiency_Is/http$3A$2F$2Fwww.mercola.com$2F2002$2Ffeb$2F23$2Fvitamin_\

d_deficiency.htm>vitamin

D testing for your records and also for your doctor so he or she can become

aware of this vitally important nutrient.

 

Referenced article:

<http://mercola.com//blog/2004/jun/17/Even_Experts_Don't_Understand_How_Common_V\

itamin_D_Deficiency_Is/http$3A$2F$2Farchpedi.ama-assn.org$2Fcgi$2Fcontent$2Fabst\

ract$2F158$2F6$2F531>Archives

of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine June 2004;158(6):531-7