OT: Kids' bone-disease rickets reappearing

[Guest guest]

My note: This is not TCM, but I'm forwarding it in because it has important

information. Very often in the U.S. we believe that conditions like

rickets, scurvy, pellagra, etc. are things of the past which no one is ever

troubled with now. They're not.

 

The chief cause of the comeback of these problems in the U.S. in both

children and adults is poor diet, junk food, the excessive consumption of

meat, and fad dieting. Also, processing foods often removes many nutrients -

like in the case of white bread and white rice. In addition, crops grown on

land deficient in certain minerals will be deficient in those minerals. The

plants may not need the particular nutrients to look good, but humans do in

order to be healthy.

 

Another cause of vitamin and mineral deficiencies can be absorption

problems. Chief among these are Leaky Gut Syndrome (which can be triggered

by the over- and inappropriate use of antibiotics as well as toxins) and the

over- and inappropriate use of antiacids.

 

This article deals with rickets in children, and points the finger at the

increasing use of milk substitutes such as soy milk and the lack of exposure

to sunlight, especially in dark skinned children. The fairer the skin, the

more vitamin D that will be manufactured - provided the child (or adult)

hasn't been scrubbed excessive clean or the skin isn't covered up with

certain lotions.

 

What this article fails to mention is that the reason more and more

Americans are choosing to avoid dairy problems is that a sizeable portion of

the U.S. population has problems with milk, espcially cow's milk and dairy

products. Most of the world's population has problems with cow's milk. The

minority which doesn't tends to be people of northern European ancestory.

Even out of this group, not everyone with northern European ancestory can

handle milk or dairy. Unfortunately, sustitutes which are rich in calcium

(and magnesium) are not well-known in the U.S., and even when they are

known, tend not to be eaten a lot. Things like various greens like spinach,

collards, mustard greens, etc. The U.S. government keeps pushing dairy as

THE answer to supply calcium.

 

The three main problems with dairy, in particular cow's milk and dairy

products are lactose intolerance, allergy or sensitivity to milk protein or

fat, and Dampness/ Phlegm problems.

 

Lactose is milk sugar. One can buy the enzyme which helps to digest milk

sugar. But in the case of allergy or sensitivity or Dampness/ Phlegm

problems, avoidance is the only thing which works. Milk is notorious for

engendering Dampness and Phlegm. This is even more likely in the case of

someone with Spleen weakness, and many Americans have weakened Spleens due

to poor diet, eating on the run, fad dieting, stress, etc.

 

Rickets in children or osteomalacia (the adult form of rickets) in adults

usually is due to not getting enough calcium, magnesium, or vitamin D either

through diet, through supplement, or through exposure to sunlight. Certain

kidney problems also can result in Vitamin D Resistant Rickets or in

glycosuric rickets and osteomalacia. The treatment in both these cases are

large dosages of vitamin D and calcium. Pseudohypoparathyrodism is a

genetic disorder that can cause rickets. But poor diet is the more likely

cause of rickets and osteomalacia.

 

One of the lab results found in cases of glycosuric rickets/ osteomalacia as

well as in cases of rickets/ osteomalcia due to poor diet is elevated

alkaline phosphatase. Elevated AP can be due to a number of conditions.

Some of these are very serious and life-threatening, but elevated AP also

can be due to calcium (and/or magnesium) deficiency due to poor diet or due

to pregnancy. Whenever someone presents with elevated AP, the person should

be asked if s/he is avoiding dairy and if s/he is taking calcium and

magnesium supplement. If the person is avoiding dairy as well as not taking

supplements, this doesn't necessarily rule out the possibility of something

more serious being the cause of the elevated AP. But, some cases of

elevated AP will be due just to the fact that the person is avoiding dairy,

is not obtaining the necessary calcium and magnesium from other dietary

sources, and is not taking supplements.

 

The body needs magnesium in order to absorb calcium, and vice versa. After

a point, Mg and Ca are in competition in the body, but both are needed for

each to be absorbed. The excessive consumption of meat can result in loss

of calcium in the body. Excessive use of antiacids actually can interfere

with calcium and magnesium absorption even though antiacids frequently

contain calcium or magnesium.

 

Victoria

****************

 

>Kids' bone-disease rickets reappearing

>

> Tucson, Arizona Friday, 30 March 2001

>

>

> Kids' bone-disease rickets reappearing

> THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

>

> ATLANTA - Childhood rickets - a bone-softening

>disease that had become so rare the government stopped keeping statistics

>on it - is making a comeback, in part because some youngsters are not

>getting enough sunlight, health officials say.

>

> Rickets, a vitamin D deficiency that causes bones

>to soften and bend and often results in bowlegs, was once a major health

>problem. The addition of vitamin D to milk in the 1930s virtually

>eliminated the disease.

>

> But health officials said yesterday that health

>departments across the country are seeing a resurgence.

>

> The government attributes the comeback to the

>popularity of milk substitutes like soy that lack certain nutrients; the

>failure to supplement breast milk with vitamin D; and a lack of childhood

>exposure to sunlight. Sunlight stimulates the body to produce vitamin D.

>

> The resurgence has been seen particularly among

>children breast-fed by black mothers. Dark-skinned people absorb less

>sunlight.

>

> Dr. Norman Carvalho of Children's Healthcare of

>Atlanta hospital led a study of malnutrition in children that appears in

>next month's issue of the journal Pediatrics.

>

>

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>

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