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| Vitamin Sunshine |
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An astonishing forty percent of healthy babies and toddlers
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in a recent study had low levels of vitamin D. Results of
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this important study appear in the June 2008 Archives of
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Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Children can get
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vitamin D in the diet, but the skin can also make vita-
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min D in response to time in the sun. Optimal levels of
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vitamin D are important not only for bone health, but al-
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so for helping to prevent cancer, infections, and other
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important diseases. Severe vitamin D deficiency can
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cause rickets, a bone condition that has been increasing
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around the world (even in sunny California, Nevada, Texas,
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and North Carolina, among other US states). What predicts
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low levels of vitamin D? The child’s gender? Their nutrition? The a-
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mount of time spent in the sun? The season of the year? Sunscreen use? The darkness of
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the skin? Parents’ health habits? The current study looked at healthy children up to age two
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who went to Children’s Hospital Boston for a routine health visit over the course of a year
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and a half. Vitamin D levels...continued - Previous articles by Dr. Greene
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Alan Greene MD, FAAP
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