U.S. Children Short on Vitamin D

Ivanhoe Broadcast News

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Vitamin D levels in children across the United States are lower than experts consider healthy.

In a nationally representative study out of Children's Hospital Boston, researchers found about 20 percent of children in the United States fall below the 50nmol/L standard requirement of Vitamin D recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Two-thirds of all children fall below the 75nmol/L level, including 80 percent of Hispanic children and 92 percent of black children.

Many studies argue that 75nmol/ L, or even 100nmol/ L may be necessary to lower risks of cancer and heart disease.

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 "If 75 nmol/L or higher is eventually demonstrated to be the healthy normal level of vitamin D, then there is much more vitamin D deficiency in the U.S. than people realize," lead study author Jonathon Mansbach, M.D., at Children's Hospital Boston, was quoted as saying.

Dr. Mansbach and his team studied almost 5,000 children, ages 1 to 11, demographically representing the national population.

Dr. Mansbach recommends all children take vitamin D supplements to achieve healthy levels. Certain foods such as liver and fatty fish offer vitamin D, but these foods are rarely eaten enough by children to obtain enough of the nutrient. Sunshine also offers vitamin D, but sunblock used to protect against skin cancer also blocks against the ability to produce vitamin D from the sun.

Vitamin D benefits bone health, prevents rickets and may protect against respiratory illnesses, childhood wheezing and winter-related eczema.

"We need to perform randomized controlled trials to understand if vitamin D actually improves these wide-range health outcomes," Dr. Mansbach was quoted as saying.
 
SOURCE: Pediatrics, November 2009

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