Children today just don’t get out enough. As a result, more than half of all infants and toddlers are low in their levels of vitamin D and, even at their young age, their bones are beginning to suffer.
Aside from a diet of fatty fish, sunshine is one of the principal sources of vitamin D – but outdoors play has been replaced by the DVD, the TV and the computer games.
In a study of 380 healthy infants and toddlers, researchers discovered that 12 per cent were deficient in vitamin D and a further 40 per cent had levels that were below those needed to maintain and grow healthy bones. The researchers found that a third of the children tested were already showing signs of skeletal problems.
(Source: Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 2008; 162: 538-43).