Vitamin D deficiency turns up in babies. Rickets found in Ottawa children.

[Editor-in-Chief]

Friday » June 29 » 2007

Vitamin D deficiency turns up in babies

15 confirmed cases of rickets found in Ottawa children

Joanne LauciusThe Ottawa Citizen
Thursday, June 28, 2007

Despite generations of cod liver oil, fortified milk, vitamin supplements and sunshine, vitamin D deficiency rickets has persisted among babies and children in Canada, a study led by a CHEO researcher has concluded.

Rickets, the soft-bone disease that can cause painful bone deformities, can easily be prevented with vitamin D, known as the "sunshine vitamin."

The two-year study of 2,325 pediatricians across Canada led by pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Leanne Ward found 104 confirmed cases of rickets, including 15 in Ottawa. She believes if family physicians had been surveyed as well as pediatricians, the study would have uncovered even more
cases.

Of the 104 cases, 20 cases had progressed to the point where the child had experienced hypocalcemic seizures.
Vitamin D is a hormone that makes it possible to absorb calcium, and a deficiency can trigger seizures - which, if prolonged, can result in brain damage.

Dr. Ward, who is conducting studies on childhood skeletal health, said she wasn't surprised at the numbers she found in her study, published Thursday in the online version of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

"I was seeing it all too frequently, and so were my colleagues. We think this is the tip of the iceberg," said Dr. Ward.

"We shouldn't see any cases at all. This should be eradicated, like smallpox."

Doctors usually identify rickets through a visual examination of a patient, then confirm it through a blood test and an X-ray. If caught early, rickets can be treated with large doses of vitamin D.

Despite the fact almost two-thirds of the cases in the study were found in large cities, including 26 in Toronto, seven in Calgary and seven in Edmonton, the incidence rates were highest among children living in the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

Almost 90 per cent of the cases were among children with intermediate and darker skin colouration; vitamin D is more easily synthesized in people with light skin. And 94 per cent of the cases were children who were breast-fed without vitamin D supplements.

Breast milk is indisputably the best food for infants, but there's not enough vitamin D in breast milk to prevent rickets, said Dr. Ward.

Neo-natal nurses and doctors need to drive home the point that infants who breast-feed need a vitamin D supplement, she said.

Although exposure to sunlight does spark vitamin D production, she believes there is no need to increase sun exposure.

Meanwhile, there is a growing body of research that suggests vitamin D has lifelong benefits for the immune system, and may be an anti-cancer agent, said Dr. Ward.







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[Wicked1]

You should check out the statistics in England as well I read somewhere that the rickets problem is huge there as well. I am not sure where I read it though. ( I could be wrong) cheers. great article though

[Editor-in-Chief]

Northern babies at greater risk of rickets: study


Babies in Canada's North face a greater risk of developing bone-softening rickets than anywhere else in the country because of a lack of vitamin D, according to a new study.

Pregnant women in the North should take vitamin D supplements throughout the year, since the nutrient is transferred to the unborn child during the third trimester, said study author Leanne Ward, a researcher with the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa.

Following birth, however, the infants should start receiving supplements because breast milk, while it is healthy for babies, is not a good source of vitamin D, Ward said.

"Breast-fed babies, particularly those living in the North, need supplementation with vitamin D starting soon after birth," she said. "Quite frankly, the highest risk factor was in the breast-fed babies."

Rickets, which soften children's bones and can lead to bow-leggedness or fractures, are most commonly caused by a lack of vitamin D, which the body produces during exposure to sun — something many northern communities lack during the winter.

The disease is a major issue in Nunavut, where at least 31 cases have been diagnosed since the territory was established in 1999, chief medical officer of health Dr. Isaac Sobol told CBC News on Tuesday. Last year alone, health officials identified around 20 cases in children, up from only two cases in 1999-2000.

As a result, the Nunavut health department has set up a vitamin D supplementation program for mothers and infants, Sobol said.
Ward's study, conducted in 2004 and published June 28 on the Canadian Medical Association Journal's website, found the territories had the highest annual rate of rickets in the country:

• Nunavut had 155 cases per 100,000.
• The Yukon had 150 cases per 100,000.
• The Northwest Territories had 94 cases per 100,000.

By comparison, Ontario had a rate of 12 cases per 100,000, although it also had 55 per cent of all identified cases.

Ward's study surveyed 2,325 pediatricians and pediatric specialists between 2002 and 2004, asking them if they had identified any new cases of vitamin D-deficiency rickets. The study pegged the mean age for diagnosis at 1.4 years of age.

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