Dr Julian Spinks talks about the rise in rickets

Transcript

00:00Rickets is a disease that was very common in previous times, Victorian times and so on,

00:04and we thought we got rid of, but it is now back, and it is a softening of the bones,

00:09particularly the ender bones in children, which then go on if you don't treat it to bow,

00:16or possibly you can end up not need, or you can get pigeon chest or even spinal deformities.

00:22And it's caused most of the time by a lack of vitamin D in the body.

00:27Definitely diet plays a part. If children are not eating things like oily fish or eggs,

00:34or for example, breakfast cereals often supplemented with vitamin D, then that will

00:40have an effect. Actually, lack of exposure to sunlight can be also a major cause,

00:47and it's worse with people who are dark skinned because they tend to generate less vitamin D.

00:52We are unfortunately in the UK quite high up in latitude, and so that means for about half the

00:57year, the sun's not high enough to make vitamin D. Some people with some medications, for example,

01:04for epilepsy and so on, can have a relative lack of vitamin D, and just exclusively breastfed

01:10babies, it's one of the few things where breastfeeding is not so good, can end up low

01:15in vitamin D.