Low Vit D in Kids Now = Problems Later

Doctors and researchers have been noticing a decline in vitamin D levels in children for a while now but the problem is getting worse. With the increasingly sedentary and inside-the-home lifestyle of many American children, and the high use of sun block for those who do go outside, many just aren’t getting sufficient levels of vitamin D from the best source, the sun.

Although we know it’s important to protect our skin from the sun to reduce the risk of skin cancer, as with everything, moderation and common sense needs to take hold. Unless their skin is very fragile, five to 10 minutes in the sun without sunscreen shouldn’t do any harm to their skin, but will be very beneficial for vitamin exposure. By removing the sun from a child’s life altogether, they are at higher risk for many other illnesses.

In a study published today in the online version of the journal Pediatrics, researchers write:

Seven out of ten U.S. children have low levels of vitamin D, raising their risk of bone and heart disease, according to a study of over 6,000 children by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. The striking findings suggest that vitamin D deficiency could place millions of children at risk for high blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease.

Digging down further, researches found that 9% of the children were vitamin deficient, while 61% didn’t have enough vitamin D.

The highest risk children for low vitamin D levels were:

• older children
• girls
• African-American
• Mexican-American
• drank little milk (less than one per week)
• were sedentary (4 hours or more/day spend in front of a screen – TV, video, computer)

As if the low vitamin D levels weren’t bad enough, the researchers also found that other measurements were off. The parathyroid hormone, something that controls the blood calcium, were higher than they should be, blood pressure was higher, and the good cholesterol (HDL) levels were lower than they should be.

The researchers were stunned by how common the problem seems to be. They’re hoping that this research will alert doctors to look for signs of vitamin D deficiency (which can also lead to rickets – soft bones that can show by bow-leggedness, for example) and to encourage parents to give their children vitamin D-rich foods and get some sun exposure.

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