Many Toddlers Lack the “Sunshine Vitamin”

After years of hectoring new parents about the need to keep babies protected from the sun's fierce ultraviolet rays, doctors may be about to swing back the other way. A new study shows that many infants and toddlers aren't getting enough Vitamin D, which is produced in human skin during exposure to sunshine. Vitamin D is essential for bone growth and absorption of calcium in the digestive tract, and also plays a role in regulating the immune system. But doctors disagree on the severity of the problem posed by the low vitamin D levels found in the study, and are also divided on what course of action to recommend. In the study, which appeared in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, researchers took blood samples from children ranging in age from 8 to 24 months, and found that 40 percent had below-optimal levels of the nutrient, while 12 percent were actually vitamin D deficient. The findings ... also showed that one-third of children who were deficient had changes in bone density seen on X-rays of the wrist and knee. A few even had signs of rickets, or softening of the bones caused by severe deficiency of vitamin D.