Youngsters ‘starved of vitamin D’

The Daily Express printed an article on Monday 12th May 2014 about concerns of the low levels of vitamin D that children are receiving.

A majority of parents are failing to give their children recommended vitamin supplements. A poll suggests that despite guidance that children aged six months to five years should have vitamin D pills, 50% of parents are not heeding the advice. A survey by the Health Food Manufacturers’ Association found 64% of parents felt their children were getting enough vitamin D from their diet. The poll of 10,000 people found 76% did not know children are supposed to have supplements.

But last year England’s chief medical officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies, said all under-fives should get free vitamins A, C and D. Only low –income families qualify but there are concerns of an increase in rickets, a bone condition caused by lack of vitamin D. It is estimated 40% of children are not getting enough of the vitamin, the best source is sun on the skin. It occurs naturally in very few foods such as oily fish and eggs.