By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
A new study has found disturbingly low Vitamin D levels in almost 60 million U.S. children and blames unhealthy lifestyles for the problem. Low Vitamin D levels can increase the risk for bone problems, heart disease, diabetes and other ailments.
According to a report by the Washington Post, the study was based on a representative sample of 6,000 children and found the deficiency was most common in girls, adolescents and people with darker skin.
“It’s astounding,” said Michal L. Melamed of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, who helped conduct one of the studies published online by the journal Pediatrics. “At first, we couldn’t believe the numbers. I think it’s very worrisome.”
The study found that about 7.6 million children, adolescents and young adults between the ages of one and 21 have Vitamin D levels so low they could be considered deficient. Another 50.8 million have higher levels, but still low enough to be insufficient, according to the analysis of federal data being released today.
An accompanying federal study also found an association between low Vitamin D levels and increased risk for high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and a condition that increases the risk for heart disease and diabetes, known as the metabolic syndrome.
Taken together, the studies provide new evidence that low Vitamin D levels may be putting a generation of children at increased risk for heart disease and diabetes, two of the nation’s biggest health problems that are also increased by the childhood obesity epidemic.
Researchers blame the low levels on a combination of factors, including children spending more time indoors watching television and playing video games instead of going outside, and drinking more soda and other beverages instead of consuming milk and other foods fortified with Vitamin D.
“This appears to be another result of our unhealthy lifestyles, including a sedentary society that doesn’t go out in the sun much,” Melamed said.
Some longtime proponents of the health benefits of Vitamin D seized on the findings to urge parents to ask doctors to test their children’s Vitamin D levels, consider increasing supplementation or make sure children spend more time outdoors to boost their levels.
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