Rickets, largely conquered in the UK in the 1950s by improvements in diet and regular vitamin D supplements, threatens our children again. 20% of children included in a study of 2,700 from all sections of society were deficient in vitamin D, which is essential for strong, healthy bones. Vitamin D is produced in the body naturally by the interplay of sunshine and skin.
The researchers highlight two possible causes: the growing tendency to stay inside and play on the computer (which ties in with the increase in lack of child fitness) and parents overreacting to the current barrage of warnings linking the sun to skin cancer and covering their children head-to-toe in high factor sunblock.