The Need for More Vitamin D

Abstract

Vitamin D is an essential precursor of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, the steroid hormone required not only for bone development and growth in children and maintenance of bone in adults, but also for the prevention of osteoporosis and fractures in the elderly. Although rickets and osteomalacia — the consequences of severe vitamin D deficiency — have largely disappeared, there is increasing evidence of widespread vitamin D deficiency in old and sick people. The findings by Thomas et al. in this issue of the Journal ¹ of low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations in 57 percent of 290 patients hospitalized on a medical service indicate . . .