Parents - Millions of U.S. kids vitamin D deficient

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Millions of U.S. kids vitamin D deficient

BOSTON (UPI) -- Millions of U.S. children under age 11 -- particularly African-American and Hispanic children -- may get too little vitamin D, researchers found.

Study leader Dr. Jonathan Mansbach of Children's Hospital Boston, and colleagues of the University of Colorado Denver and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to look at vitamin D levels in a nationally representative sample of some 5,000 children from 2001-2006.

In a study scheduled to be published in the journal Pediatrics, the researchers said extrapolating to the entire U.S. population suggests roughly 20 percent of all children fall below the recommended 50 nanomoles per liter. Moreover, more than two-thirds of all children have levels below 75 nmol/L, including 80 percent of Hispanic children and 92 percent of non-Hispanic black children.

"If 75 nmol/L or higher is eventually demonstrated to be the healthy normal level of vitamin D, then there is much more vitamin D deficiency in the U.S. than people realize," Mansbach said in a statement.

The researchers suggested all children take vitamin D supplements because of the generally low levels they found and the potential health benefits of boosting vitamin D to normal levels.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

This news arrived on: 10/26/2009

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