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Dr. Kim Mulvihill ReportingRickets is a disease that's roaring back in infants and causing concern among pediatricians in the United States.
Rickets is caused by a severe deficiency of Vitamin D. Without vitamin D, you can't absorb enough calcium. And when there's not enough calcium, your bones become soft and deformed, and that can stunt a child's growth.
X-rays of an infant diagnosed with rickets shows the baby's bones are noticeably deformed.
The chief sources of vitamin D in our diets are fortified milk products and sunlight. And that may hold some clues as to why this once extinct disease is once again rearing its ugly head.
Experts with the American Academy of Pediatrics point to two main factors as to why we may be seeing this resurgence in rickets. First of all, more kids and their moms are using sunscreens, and that decreases vitamin D production in the skin.
Babies who are exclusively fed breast milk do not get enough vitamin D. Human breast milk contains about 25 international units per liter of vitamin D. But according to the National Academy of Sciences, a baby needs about eight times that amount every day.
It's now recommended all infants get a minimum of 200 international units of vitamin D a day - in supplemental drops - beginning during the first two months of life. But a study in Pediatrics found fewer than one in two doctors offer this recommendation to breastfeeding moms. There is some concern that bringing up the topic may discourage mothers from nursing their babies. And if you can breastfeed, you and your baby will enjoy so many benefits.
Vitamin D deficiency has been reported to be as high at 58 percent in adolescents and adults in America. But the problem is more acute among African Americans and darker skinned people. People with a darker skin pigment are less able to use sunlight to make vitamin D and many African Americans have a hard time digesting milk.
