Age-old children's disease back in force
Diagnoses of rickets, caused by lack of vitamin D, on the rise
A primitive disease has skulked back onto the scene, hidden in the wake of new health concerns that seem to arise each week.
Rickets, the disease that weakens bones in children, is back.
Although it's hard to believe, a growing number of studies across North America shows that children of the 21st century are suffering from the same vitamin D deficiency that devastated families more than 100 years ago. The difference is that today we should know better.
Rickets was first described medically in 1650 by Francis Glissen: "We affirm therefore, that this disease doth rarely invade children presently at birth ... but after that it beginneth by little and little daily to rage." The disease became an epidemic in industrialized cities across Europe and North America. Heavy smog blacked out the sun in large cities, making it impossible for growing children to create enough vitamin D through their skin.
The result was weak bones, including leg bones bowed under the weight of children's upper torsos.
At the time, the disease hit hardest at black people living in England, because darker skin pigmentation requires greater sun exposure to create vitamin D.
Finally, in 1921, Elmer McCollum, an American biochemist, isolated from certain fats the substance that prevents rickets. He named it vitamin D because it was the fourth vitamin discovered.
Soon, it was discovered that irradiating certain foods with ultraviolet light produced vitamin D. Harry Steenbock, a researcher from the University of Wisconsin, patented a highly effective technique for irradiating milk that led to an almost-instant reversal of rickets. By 1930, the disease was nearly eradicated in North America.
That lasted until now.
FULL STORY HERE:
http://www.thestar.com/living/article/239341
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