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Last Updated: Aug 29, 2019
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VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY -RICKETS
Rickets causes muscles and bones to become soft, which can cause permanent deformities in children. It is most common in children and infants who have a poor diet or who are housebound, but is nowadays relatively rare in developed countries. Breast-fed babies are at higher risk if they or their mothers do not take in enough sunlight, and baby formula is now designed to prevent this. Rickets is caused by a lack of vitamin D or of calcium. Vitamin D is required for calcium to be properly absorbed into bones to strengthen them. Adults rarely develop rickets because their bones are not growing and do not need much calcium. Vitamin D itself is obtained from many foods but the body can only use it if it has been converted into its active form via sunlight. In recent years there has been a slight increase in children with rickets possibly due to too many of them staying indoors.
Rickets causes muscles and bones to become soft, which can cause permanent deformities in children. It is most common in children and infants who have a poor diet or who are housebound, but is nowadays relatively rare in developed countries. Breast-fed babies are at higher risk if they or their mothers do not take in enough sunlight, and baby formula is now designed to prevent this. Rickets is caused by a lack of vitamin D or of calcium. Vitamin D is required for calcium to be properly absorbed into bones to strengthen them. Adults rarely develop rickets because their bones are not growing and do not need much calcium. Vitamin D itself is obtained from many foods but the body can only use it if it has been converted into its active form via sunlight. In recent years there has been a slight increase in children with rickets possibly due to too many of them staying indoors.