Deficiency of sunlight and vitamin D
- 12 June 2008
- Vol. 336 (7657), 1318-1319
- https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.39581.411424.80
Abstract
Fortification of foods and advice on sensible sun exposure are urgently needed At the turn of the 20th century more than 80% of children living in the industrialised cities of the Western hemisphere had rickets.1 2 Rickets became extremely rare in the United Kingdom, Europe, and United States after it was realised that exposure to ultraviolet light was the major source of vitamin D, and after the fortification of milk and other foods with vitamin D.2 At least a billion people worldwide are estimated to be vitamin D deficient, mainly because of inadequate exposure to sunlight and inadequate fortification of food with vitamin D.1 3 4 5 Skin pigmentation absorbs ultraviolet light, thereby reducing vitamin D production; this can be a problem for certain racial groups who now live in the Northern hemisphere. Human breast milk contains very little vitamin D and women with vitamin D deficiency provide no vitamin D for their infant. Such infants will be at high risk of developing rickets if they are exclusively breast fed. Rickets is the most overt sign of severe vitamin D deficiency in Europe—around 1-5% of children with vitamin D deficiency have skeletal signs of rickets and probably 10-25% of adults with vitamin D deficiency have symptomatic osteomalacia. Vitamin D deficiency causes secondary hyperparathyroidism and increases …This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit:
- Unrecognised severe vitamin D deficiencyBMJ, 2008
- Estimating the global disease burden due to ultraviolet radiation exposureInternational Journal of Epidemiology, 2008
- Unexpected actions of vitamin D: new perspectives on the regulation of innate and adaptive immunityNature Clinical Practice Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2008
- Vitamin D Deficiency and Risk of Cardiovascular DiseaseCirculation, 2008
- Addressing the health benefits and risks, involving vitamin D or skin cancer, of increased sun exposureProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2008
- Vitamin D DeficiencyThe New England Journal of Medicine, 2007
- High prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, secondary hyperparathyroidism and generalized bone pain in Turkish immigrants in Germany: identification of risk factorsOsteoporosis International, 2006
- Prevalence of Severe Hypovitaminosis D in Patients With Persistent, Nonspecific Musculoskeletal PainMayo Clinic Proceedings, 2003
- The Influence of Painful Sunburns and Lifetime Sun Exposure on the Risk of Actinic Keratoses, Seborrheic Warts, Melanocytic Nevi, Atypical Nevi, and Skin CancerJournal of Investigative Dermatology, 2003
- THE CURE OF INFANTILE RICKETS BY SUNLIGHTJournal of the American Medical Association, 1921