16 August 2010

Daily Mail

Milk could be fortified with vitamin D to strengthen bones and prevent heart disease and cancer.

The vitamin is credited with a host of benefits but because the body’s stores of it are mainly formed by exposure to sunlight many Britons do not have enough of it.

In England, half of the population is low in the ’sunshine vitamin’ when winter ends – in Scotland, it is two-thirds.

Vitamin D is credited with a host of benefits but because the body’s stores of it are mainly formed by exposure to sunlight many Britons do not have enough of it.

Government scientific advisors are looking for ways to boost levels. Options include fortifying milk, something already done in countries such as Canada.

Dr Ann Prentice, chairman of the scientific advisory committee on nutrition, said: ‘It is widely recognised within Government circles that we have a problem now that needs to be addressed. Milk is one of the potential vehicles that could be used.’

Milk could be fortified with vitamin D to strengthen bones and prevent heart disease and cancer. The vitamin is vital for calcium absorption and bone health and may help to prevent Alzheimer’s.

Recent research has shown that vitamin D supplements are as good as some drugs at keeping prostate cancer under control – and it is said that taking supplements of the vitamin in pregnancy and childhood could wipe out 80 per cent of cases of multiple sclerosis.

Low levels of vitamin D are linked to a higher risk of dying from cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

Dr Susan Lanham-New, a SACN member and a Surrey University nutritionist, said that a study of 14,000 pregnant women in Bristol during the 1990s found that more than 90 per cent of them were not getting enough of the vitamin.

She said: ‘Vitamin D is known to be vital for a wide range of body functions. A lot of us are very worried about [deficiencies] and think it needs looking at.’

Vitamin D-rich foods include oily fish and eggs but with 90 per cent coming from the action of sunlight on the skin there are concerns that advice on abstaining from sunbathing is unnecessarily restrictive.

Finland became the first country to add vitamin D to milk supplies in 2003. Fortification is carried out – but not mandatory – in Canada, Israel and Jordan.

It is said that taking supplements of the vitamin in pregnancy and childhood could wipe out 80 per cent of cases of multiple sclerosis

Opinions on the success of the Finnish initiative are mixed. A 2006 study of young men found that fortification led to a ‘ substantial’ rise in vitamin D of more than 50 per cent. But a similar study the following year concluded that fortification only slightly boosted vitamin D levels.

Any plans for compulsory fortification of milk in the Uk could lead to criticisms that consumers were being stripped of choice, although the vitamin has been added to margarine for many years by law.

The Department of Health said the SACN’s report into fortification would take at least three years to complete.

The Food Standards Agency says most people should be able to get all the vitamin D they need from their diet and sun exposure but recommends ten micrograms per day for over-65s and pregnant and breastfeeding women.

It warns that high doses can weaken bones but says that taking up to 25 micrograms in supplements a day is unlikely to cause any harm.

Source: MailOnline © Associated Newspapers Ltd 2010 (16/08/10)

Under the heading Vitamin D: hope on the horizon for MS prevention? the June issue of The Lancet Neurology insists the benefits of supplementation outweigh any potential side effects and concludes “given the low costs, low toxicity … steps to tackle vitamin D deficiency in high-risk populations seem warranted.”

Vitamin D is sometimes known as the “sunshine drug”. The new research specifically identifies Scotland among a number of high-latitude countries — with long, dark winters — that have a higher than average incidence of MS. Around 10,500 people in Scotland have the disease which is the country’s most common disabling neurological condition, typically affecting sufferers from their late 20s and 30s.

The Lancet’s intervention follows a succession of studies which have demonstrated the link between Vitamin D deficiency and a number of health conditions, including rickets, type 1 (or early onset) diabetes, heart disease, infectious diseases and some forms of cancer.

The authors of the report concede that the link between Vitamin D deficiency and MS is not definitively proved, but add that assembling data on MS prevention could take decades. They argue that dietary supplement were likely to provide wider health benefits that would quickly result in a reduction in government health spending.

Welcoming the findings, David McNiven of the MS Society Scotland said his organisation would continue to support the Shine on Scotland campaign, lobbying for Vitamin D Supplements.

“The Lancet article is very encouraging because it endorses the arguments that we have been making: that vitamin D supplementation represents a low-cost, low-risk public health intervention with potentially massive benefits,” said Mr McNiven.

The new research leaves little doubt of the wider benefits of supplementation. The authors write: “If the predicted effects of raising serum vitamin D concentrations … are realised, the potential savings have been estimated to be £160 billion from the direct and indirect burden of the disease, set against an expenditure of £8.5 billion on testing and public education.”

The paper concludes: “Because any benefits for MS in particular will take decades to emerge, a long-term outlook is needed from policymakers, but future health and financial benefits have the potential to make this investment highly rewarding.”

Last year, researchers in North America suggested that high doses of vitamin D could dramatically cut the relapse rate in people with multiple sclerosis. According to scientists in Canada, more than a third of sufferers taking high levels of supplementation did not fall ill during the period of the trial, representing a marked change in the pattern of their disease.

Like Scotland, Canada has a high rate of MS and there is growing evidence that this is connected to a cloudy climate, where weaker ultraviolet B rays during the winter months are insufficient for people to produce enough Vitamin D.

Neurologists at the University of Toronto, studied 25 people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. During the year of treatment 40 per cent of patients on the low dose of vitamin D (1,000 international units daily) experienced a relapse compared to only 16 per cent of those in the high dose (14,000 IU daily) group.

People taking the high dose of vitamin D suffered 41 per cent fewer relapses than the year before the study began, compared with 17 per cent of those taking typical doses. Dr Burton found that those taking high doses of vitamin D did not suffer any significant side effects.

The MS Society Scotland has organised an international summit in September, where the link between vitamin D deficiency and the disease will be discussed. They hope to persuade Scottish ministers to take action on vitamin D as a pressing public health issue.

article published by The Times

Ryan & Prof George Ebers from Oxford Uni.

When Ryan McLaughlin was 14 he found himself displaying symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis. Acutely aware of the condition as a result of his mother’s diagnosis two years previously, he was referred to Yorkhill hospital for tests.

Hoping to learn of a cure, he sought answers on the internet and came across research from Oxford University, highlighting the link between Vitamin D deficiency and MS. “To be honest with you, I kind of discounted it at first, thinking it was a wee bit too simple,” says dad, Alan. “He went back upstairs and had another good read of the research and came back down and said would it not be just as easy to put the vitamins straight into the milk and then every child has protection.

We thought that was a brilliant idea and that is really when we took notice.” With the help of the MS Society Scotland, Ryan, whose suffering turned out to be stress causing his body to mimic the symptoms of his mother’s condition, formed the Shine on Scotland campaign and took his proposals to the Scottish Parliament.

His petition attracted over 1500 signatures and since then the Scottish Government has agreed to run an awareness campaign highlighting the links between Vitamin D, the so-called sunshine vitamin, and MS. However, his long-term aim remains that Vitamin D supplements be offered to every child and pregnant women.

This goal was given a significant boost last week following the publication of an article in the Lancet Neurology journal. In addition to casting a spotlight on Scotland, the article also references the Shine on Scotland campaign and argues that as Vitamin D is an inexpensive supplement, the potential cost savings of such a programme are enormous. It continues: “In Europe, if the predicted effects of raising serum Vitamin D concentrations to 100 nmol/L are realised, the potential savings have been estimated to be €187 billion [c £160bn] per year from the direct and indirect burden of disease, set against an expenditure of €10 billion on testing and public education.” While it makes clear that trials are still needed to address questions about dosage levels and long-term implications, it nevertheless argues that given the high prevalence and incidence of MS in Scotland, as well as other diseases related to Vitamin D deficiency such as many types of cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, “the benefits of supplementation are likely to outweigh any potential side-effects” and so should not be seen as an impediment to beginning a supplementation programme in the near future.

The McLaughlin family are understandably delighted with the news and argue that a supplementation programme should be introduced without delay. “I think there has got to be some movement on it, one way or another now,” says Alan. “To go to a cohort study will take five years. To go to a randomised control study will probably be a ten-year process and we would be looking at probably another 15 years on top before we see a result and get proper data from it and that is too long. Children are suffering. The numbers are growing for MS for children vastly and obviously, people are being diagnosed a lot younger and that means folk are suffering now. So we can’t wait 15 to 20 years to get a result and then take action.” He continues: “A large study would cost between £10-25m. Whereas the Government literally could say we go and allow fortification for certain products at a higher dosage and share some of the burden and cost of that with the food industry and what you will have is healthier kids with a built up immune system at very little cost to the Government to implement it and hopefully, you will see an instant improvement in people’s health.” Certainly, the food industry is not waiting on the Government to make up its mind, he argues. “There are plans afoot already by several brands on the market to start putting Vitamin D into all sorts of foods.

We’ve already seen it with powdered milk – SMA and Cow & Gate have already started putting it in. Nestle have started putting it into some of their products abroad but not in the UK. They have already brought out Vitamin D in Australia in Kit Kat bars. That will happen here as well, with the right encouragement.” There is growing international recognition of the issue, says Alan, pointing out that US President Barack Obama has recently launched a task force to look at Vitamin D deficiency and Ryan has already written to First Lady Michelle Obama, who is spearheading the ‘Let’s move’ campaign to end childhood obesity to tell her about his campaign in Scotland.

“American groups are up in arms,” Alan says, “they really want it. North America, especially.” Australia started campaigning last week. Germany kicks one off in a week’s time. “So it has caught on and the research is there to prove the theory.” “I think we are way by the point where people don’t believe it anymore, it is now just about taking action and seeing how much it will help.” And there is a sense that Scotland is leading the field on this issue, argues Craig Wilkie, head of policy and communications, MS Society Scotland. “Partly that is because some of the most significant research has been done in the UK and has been taken up in a Scottish context throughout this campaign,” he says, “and from our perspective, the Scottish Government has been very receptive to looking at that, considering that and working with us to see what some of the implications might be.” There is certainly much to consider.

In March a group of international experts, health professionals, politicians and patient representatives met in Brussels to call for action to address widespread deficiency of Vitamin D in Europe. “Most of the experts and health professionals there were very much of the view that this is quite a significant challenge and it was described by one of the participants as the low-lying fruit of public health – the next stage that governments could and should consider,” explains Wilkie, who attended the meeting.

Unfortunately, the meeting tended to be a little bit focused on the academic research itself rather than some of the policies that politicians and governments might look at, he says. However, he is hopeful that the summit that is being hosted by MS Society Scotland with support from the Scottish Government later this year will provide a forum for such debate. The summit, which had been scheduled for April but was postponed due to the volcanic ash cloud, will now be held in Scotland in September. “It is quite exciting for us to be able to bring these people into the same room to look at a potentially important issue,” he says. “One of the things that is interesting, at least to me, about Vitamin D is that even though the research and the evidence is still emerging, and some of it is still at a reasonably early stage, I think, especially in the current climate, that it is important that the options we are looking at are relatively low cost.

And even if the benefit as yet is not absolutely definitive, the potential benefit is actually quite big and at the same time, the risks seem to be very low. “So the combination of all those factors make it potentially quite a significant area to look at in relation to public health and one that might bring a lot of benefit for not very much investment.” Backing the Lancet article’s calls for action now on supplementation, Wilkie says he would like to see the Government giving serious consideration to a programme of supplementation for at-risk groups, such as young children, pregnant women, and certain ethnic minority groups who may tend to cover up and so do not receive the same exposure to the sun. However, alongside this he would also like to see more co-ordination of public health messages around how to boost levels of Vitamin D naturally. “By and large, the message on sunscreen and so on has been quite a successful one in public health terms. But one of the implications of that in a country like Scotland is that people are actually denying themselves the opportunity to get Vitamin D from the sun, which is the most obvious and plentiful source of it. Even ten, 15 minutes in the sun prior to putting on sunscreen can make a difference. So one of the things that we’ve been talking about with the Government is how you can try and coordinate some of those messages and look at some of the unintended consequences of certain health messages around sunscreen, for example.” While he says there is still a long way to go, he says it is remarkable what the Shine on Scotland campaign has managed to achieve in a relatively short time, which he credits in no small part to Ryan’s unstinting “enthusiasm and commitment”. “He is always looking for new opportunities to expand the campaign or add different dimensions to it. He is quite an extraordinary young man. So it is no surprise that he is getting things done,” Wilkie says.

Alan is also proud of what his son has achieved. “He’s done a fantastic job with it. He’s got his own wee style in the way he speaks to the Government and to manage to get the whole government on side, he has done really well. “For the last year he has just been stuck in his room, apart from when he is doing his Taekwondo, researching and annoying politicians until they give in.” And he has been right to do so, Alan says. “It is not as if they are giving in for any reason other than that he’s right.

The research is 40 years old now. It was only last year that Oxford University found that specific gene which proved the theory, but the Vitamin D hypothesis has been there for nearly going on 40 years. So it is about time something is done about it.

” Source: Holyrood Magazine (c) Holyrood.com (01/06/10)

Vitamin D , sometimes known as the sunshine vitamin because the body manufactures it in response to sunlight on the skin, is increasingly being thought of as important in preventing a variety of chronic illnesses. Vitamin D deficiency is now a strong suspect in Scotland’s poor health record, which gives it some of the highest rates of heart disease and cancer in Europe and, overall, chronic disease in the world. Another obvious characteristic of Scotland is its weather. Its geography and the Gulf Stream combine to give it a particularly damp, overcast climate where sunlight levels can be as low as parts of the Arctic Circle.

George Ebers, Professor of Clinical Neurology at the University of Oxford, can claim there is hard evidence of a causal link between genes and the environment to multiple sclerosis. In a genetic study for the Wellcome Trust he reports “We have known a long time that genes and environment determine MS risk . . . Here we show that the main environment risk candidate – vitamin D – and the main gene region are directly linked and interact.” Scotland has one of the highest incidences of MS in the world.

Shine on Scotland, supported by BUPA, are campaigning to have all school milk fortified with vitamin D. Campaigners would like legislators to allow GPs to recommend higher doses of vitamin D supplementation and to correct the current scare over sunlight (it is burning which is bad for the skin and heightens the risk of skin cancer. Regular, sensible exposure is healthy and has even been associated with improved moods).

Dietary sources of the vitamin are liver (which is very rich in vitamin A, which is essential for good health but is toxic in high doses, so stick to once a week); oily fish such as herring, catfish, salmon, mackerel, sardines, tuna and eel; eggs; dairy produce; and fortified margarines and cereals. The perennial supplement cod liver oil is an excellent source as well as having been confirmed as the best provider of omega 3 oils. Choose good quality capsules or bottled oil.

If making an effort to consume meaningful quantities of vitamin D is a way of slashing Scotland’s shocking health stats (and the evidence just keeps stacking up) then let’s get on with it.

“Our study implies that taking vitamin D supplements during pregnancy and the early years may reduce the risk of a child developing MS in later life,” says Dr Sreeram Ramagopalan, lead author of the Ebers study. “Vitamin D is a safe and relatively cheap supplement with substantial potential health benefits. There is accumulating evidence that it can reduce the risk of developing cancer and offer protection from other autoimmune diseases.”

In addition, campaigners suggest, all milk, bread and orange juice should be fortified, negating the necessity for individuals to remember to take a ‘pill’.

One wonders how much distress and waste of money could be avoided by adding tiny amounts of this inexpensive substance to more of our diet.

DID YOU KNOW?

Figures for the UK published by Cass Business School , City University London, state that the cost of treating coronary heart disease is £3.5 billion, with costs of £3.1 billion attributable to lost working days; cost of stroke £2.3 billion; hypertension, which is under-reported, £0.8 billion; diabetes, £1.3 billion; and COPD, £1 billion.

The UK RDA (recommended daily amount) is five micograms, equivalent to 200 IUs (International Units). This is half that of the EU and the US RDAs. Campaigners and experts want this to be revised upwards and for clarity (the Food Standards Agency and BUPA, for instance, are giving contradictory advice).

The theory from the researchers in Boston, announced in an AAN press release, was based on a survey of American mothers.

It was claimed that MS risk was lower among women born to mothers with high milk or dietary vitamin D intake in pregnancy.

Unfortunately UK media reports focussed on the milk link ; however it is in fact the case that there are only trace elements of vitamin D in milk consumed in this country.

Unlike America, most of Britain’s milk is not fortified with vitamin D and so whatever quantity of milk is ingested, vitamin D levels in the body are likely to remain unaffected.

MS Society Scotland and 14 year old Ryan Mclaughlin announced last week that Scotland will host a international conference on April 27 to discuss the role of vitamin D. The event, to take place in Glasgow, will be opened by Nicola Sturgeon, the Health Secretary. Leading researchers into links between vitamin D deficiency and multiple sclerosis are expected to attend.

Source
Multiple Scleroris Society

An international conference is to be held in Scotland to discuss the health effects of vitamin D — thanks to the efforts of a 14-year-old schoolboy.

Ryan McLaughlin, from Glasgow, petitioned the Scottish Parliament questioning possible links between vitamin D and multiple sclerosis after discovering that the disease — from which his mother suffers — could be prevalent in Scotland because of vitamin D deficiency caused by a lack of sunlight.

The petition called on ministers to produce guidelines on vitamin D supplements for children and pregnant women, and launch an awareness campaign. As a result of his efforts, the Scottish government recognised “an urgent need” to provide information to health professionals and mothers, and is to launch a campaign.

Ministers also agreed to host a conference on April 27 to discuss the role of vitamin D. The event, to take place in Glasgow, will be opened by Nicola Sturgeon, the Health Secretary. Leading researchers into links between vitamin D deficiency and multiple sclerosis are expected to attend.

Yesterday, as the Public Petitions Committee agreed to close Ryan’s petition, members congratulated him for his achievement. Bill Butler, Ryan’s local MSP, hailed the schoolboy’s effort, saying that “a very great deal of progress” had been made.

The Glasgow Anniesland representative praised the way “Ryan and the McLaughlin family have persuaded the government; and the government has listened to the very sensible suggestions contained in the petition.

“The government has agreed to a co-ordinated programme of action with NHS Scotland to produce guidance on vitamin D, to educate women on its importance, to consider different messages for different groups of people, and to ensure that health professionals are giving correct and consistent advice to pregnant women and new mothers. Not only should the McLaughlin family be congratulated, but also the government for listening.”

He described that as a significant success. An image of Ryan is now featured on promotional literature for the petitions committee. Speaking about the campaign, Ryan said: “After an amazing year in raising both vitamin D and MS awareness, I now have the commitments that I wanted from the Scottish government.

“I applaud the positive action taken by the Scottish government and the support from Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Shona Robison, Health and Sports Minister.”

A spokeswoman for the Scottish government said: “We’re keen to learn all we can about any possible links between vitamin D and multiple sclerosis and are keeping a very close eye on all the emerging evidence.”

• Breast cancer is diagnosed more often in the spring and autumn, and less often in the summer, leading researchers to suggest that its season-ality may be connected to vitamin D deficiency. Researchers at the University of South Carolina, who examined 2,921,714 breast cancer cases, also found that the seasonality was increasingly prominent the further away from the equator that the women lived. This implies that lack of sunshine, and therefore vitamin D, was a factor.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article7021318.ece

The link emerged from a study of 35,794 female nurses whose mothers provided information about their diet during pregnancy. Of the nurses taking part, 199 developed multiple sclerosis (MS) over a 16-year period.

The researchers found that the risk of MS was lower among women born to mothers who drank a lot of milk while pregnant. A similar trend was seen for vitamin D. Mothers who had a relatively high vitamin D intake during pregnancy also gave birth to daughters with a reduced risk of MS.

Dr Fariba Mirzaei, from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, US, who led the study, said: “The risk of MS among daughters whose mothers consumed four glasses of milk per day was 56% lower than daughters whose mothers consumed less than three glasses of milk per month.

“We also found the risk of MS among daughters whose mothers were in the top 20% of vitamin D intake during pregnancy was 45% lower than daughters whose mothers were in the bottom 20% for vitamin D intake during pregnancy.”

She added: “There is growing evidence that vitamin D has an effect on MS. The results of this study suggest that this effect may begin in the womb.”

Exposure to sunlight, oily fish such as salmon and mackerel and fortified milk are key sources of vitamin D.

The research was presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting in Toronto, Canada.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5h6LXkXVsMbkT6Jpc603zVlyiX4Qg

Dr Mark Porter: Should we all be taking vitamin D?

New research showing that vitamin D may protect against cancer of the colon is the latest in a long line of studies suggesting that there is far more to this vitamin than its traditional role in helping to maintain healthy bones. And although this new study involved more than 500,000 people from ten different European countries, it is pertinent to the UK because so many of us have low levels of vitamin D — especially at this time of year.

So should more of us be considering supplements?

Vitamin D is required to help the body make proper use of calcium — the basic building block of bones — which is why interest in it has traditionally centred on rickets, a condition that results from severe deficiency. But we now understand that it does far more than maintain the skeleton, and that milder degrees of deficiency may predispose to a range of other illnesses including diabetes, lung disease, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis (MS), rheumatoid arthritis, various cancers, and even Alzheimer’s disease.

The vitamin is manufactured in the skin when we’re exposed to sunlight but our northern latitude and short summers mean that for six months of the year UV levels are so low that most of us don’t make enough of the vitamin to meet basic requirements.

The problem is compounded by the use of sunscreens, which further reduce natural UV exposure during the summer months when vitamin D stores are replenished, and the popularity of supplements containing vitamin A (it is thought that as many as 1 in 5 of the population take one), which antagonise some of the D’s actions.

As well as manufacturing the vitamin in our skin, we also take it in from our diet. It occurs naturally in oily fish, such as tuna and herring, and liver, milk and eggs. In most industrialised countries it is added to margarine, some powdered milks, bread and breakfast cereals.

The scale of the potential problem is nicely outlined by researchers from the University of Sheffield, who looked at vitamin D levels in the cord blood of babies born at the hospital at the end of spring — the time when their mothers’ vitamin D stores were likely to be at their lowest. Seven out of ten of the babies had lower than ideal levels of vitamin D, 90 per cent of whom were white, dispelling the myth that deficiency is principally a problem in ethnic minorities with darker skin (the extra pigment reduces UV penetration even further).

Meanwhile in Finland researchers tracking a group of people born in the Sixties turned up evidence suggesting a link between low levels of vitamin D and Type 1 diabetes later in life. Children brought up in the gloomy winters of Finland are more than a hundred times more likely to develop the condition than their peers in sunny Venezuela. Since then UK research has shown that children given vitamin D supplements are around a third less likely to develop diabetes.

Vitamin D is a steroid and there are receptors on almost every cell in the body. Its link with diabetes could be explained by an action on receptors in the pancreas and on the various cells in the immune system, but there are similar vitamin D specific targets in almost every other organ, including the brain, heart, muscles, kidneys and, of course, the skeleton. Little wonder then that there is growing interest in the role of the vitamin in diseases, ranging from MS to Alzheimer’s.

Should we all be taking a supplement? It’s too early to tell whether mass supplementation is the way forward, but it is now widely agreed that the following key groups are those most likely to benefit:

Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding
Children under 5 (particularly breastfed infants)
The over-fifties
Vegetarians who don’t eat oily fish
Anyone who is housebound or who covers up when outside
Those who are dark-skinned — particularly Asians.

The standard dose for an adult is 10mcg day and trials looking at the safety of long-term supplementation have reported no adverse effects at intakes of more than double that. Much higher doses (50mcg a day or more) can weaken bones and increase the risk of calcium deposits (such as kidney stones) forming elsewhere.

During the summer most people will manufacture enough vitamin D by exposing their face and arms to the sun for an hour across the week. You don’t have to sunbathe, just accumulate around ten minutes of exposure while going about your normal business — assuming you are not wearing a sunscreen, or a moisturiser that contains one.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/expert_advice/article7008426.ece

“More than 50% of the adult population have insufficient levels of vitamin D and 16% have severe deficiency during winter and spring,” they say. “The highest rates are in Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England. People with pigmented skin are at high risk as are the elderly, obese individuals and those with malabsorption.”

The research published in the British Medical Journal, has found that the most commonly affected are people of Asian and African descent who live in the North; a key part of the research focused on young Somalis who live in east Newcastle.

Other causes include consistent sun screen application instead of allowing 20 to 30 minutes exposure to the sun two or three times a weeks, staying indoors all the working day and children sitting in front of computer games rather than playing outdoors.

Pearce has written to the Department of Health proposing Vitamin D is added to milk. It is already added to artificial baby milk.

Rickets are associated with the 19th century and young workers in industrial cities. The disease causes softening of the bones and muscle weakness. When a child has rickets, there is not enough mineral in the bones, making them soft and weaker.

Some vitamin D is obtained from certain foods: egg yolk, liver, oily fish such as sardines, herring, tuna, salmon and mackerel. A diet low in these foods will contribute to a lack of vitamin D but the main cause of the problem is lack of sunlight on the skin.

Click here to view the embedded video.