NOW Foods - New Study Finds Vitamin D Supplementation May Be Necessary for Kids

New Study Finds Vitamin D Supplementation May Be Necessary for Kids

By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, September 25, 2006, abstracted from “Vitamin D deficiency: primary or tertiary prevention?” in the August 2006 issue of Archives of Diseases in Childhood

Vitamin D is found in foods like cod liver oil and fortified milk¹ and can be made in your body after exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun.² It helps maintain normal blood levels of calcium and phosphorus that help form and maintain strong bones.³ Because these properties of vitamin D help prevent rickets in children⁴, research has found that rickets can easily be prevented with 400 IU of vitamin D per day.⁵

Now a new study⁶ has found that many children do not get enough vitamin D. Supplementation is needed for them to get adequate vitamin D to help ensure proper bone development and help protect against a number of other diseases later on in life.

In the study, researchers identified 17 cases of vitamin D deficiency in a hospital from 1994-2005.

They found that children in the UK, especially children of Asian origin, are becoming a high risk group for rickets, with 1 in 923 children and 1 in 117 Asian children now at risk. A significant cause of this increased risk, according to the researchers, was the UK’s stopping of vitamin D supplementation in infants between 2000 and 2005.⁷ And because “[vitamin D deficiency] has been linked to an increased risk for multiple sclerosis, some cancers, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, and mental illness”,^8-11 supplementing children with vitamin D early in life can have far-reaching health benefits later in life.

For the researchers, “we propose that local health authorities provide funds to supplement all Asian children with [about 300 IU per day] of vitamin D for at least the first two years of their lives.”

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Danville, CA. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at mailto:ChiroDocPSUalum@msn.com or visiting his web site www.CompleteChiropracticHealthcare.com

Reference:

¹ “Vitamin D” posted on the Office of Dietary Supplements Website http://dietary-supplements.info.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp

² DeLuca HF and Zierold C. Mechanisms and functions of vitamin D. Nutr Rev 1998;56:S4-10

³ Institute of Medicine, Food and Nutrition Board. Dietary Reference Intakes: Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Vitamin D and Fluoride. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1999

⁴ Goldring SR, Krane S, Avioli LV. Disorders of calcification: Osteomalacia and rickets. In: LJ D, ed. Endocrinology. 3rd ed. Philadelphia: WB Saunders, 1995:1204-27

⁵ “Vitamin D to Prevent Rickets In Breast-Fed Babies” posted on the Agency for Healthcare and Research Quality Website http://www.ahrq.gov/child/rickets.pdf

⁶ Zipits CS. Vitamin D deficiency: primary or tertiary prevention? Arch Dis Child 2006;000:1–5

⁷ Allgrove J. Is nutritional rickets returning? Arch Dis Child 2004;89:699–701

⁸ Guyton KZ, Kensler TW, Posner GH. Vitamin D and vitamin D analogs as cancer chemopreventive agents. Nutr Rev 2003;61(7):227–38. 28

⁹ Holick MF. Vitamin D: importance in the prevention of cancers, type I diabetes, heart disease and osteoporosis. Am J Clin Nutr 2004;79(3):362–71

¹⁰ Schneider B, Weber B, Frensch A, et al. Vitamin D in schizophrenia, major depression and alcoholism. J Neural Transm 2000;107(7):839–42

¹¹ Mungen KL, Zhang SM, O’Reilly F, et al. Vitamin D intake and incidence of multiple sclerosis. Neurology 2004;62(1):60–5