Alarm at rise of rickets in children

More than 20 per cent of children from all social classes showed signs of the bone disease rickets, astonishing doctors who discovered the problem, a hospital said yesterday.

Consultant orthopaedic surgeon Prof Nicholas Clarke checked more than 200 children from Southampton for bone problems caused by a lack of vitamin D and said he was astonished by the result which, he said, was reminiscent of 17th century England.

The disease has been on the rise across the country because of poor diet and children not being allowed outside.

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Normally, the body takes in vitamin D in the form of sun-synthesis through the skin but eggs and oily fish such as mackerel also contain the vitamin.

Those deficient in the vitamin can suffer weak and bowed bones.

"A lot of the children we've seen have got low vitamin D and require treatment," the doctor said.

He added: "What has developed in Southampton is quite astonishing.

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"This is almost certainly a combination of the modern lifestyle, which involves a lack of exposure to sunlight, but also covering up in sunshine, and we're seeing cases that are very reminiscent of 17th-century England."

Professor Clarke said vitamin D supplements should be more widely adopted to halt the rise in cases.

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