Vitamin D and Rickets

In an infant or child this deficiency results in the disease called rickets, in which the rapidly growing bones grow soft and eventually bend under the weight of the body.

It’s a defect in the mineralization of bone matrix with increase bone mass.

Affected children lack the exposure to ultraviolet light necessary for the dermal synthesis of vitamin D and have a poor diet in vitamin D in which the component (high fiber and high cereal) probably contribute to the excessive breakdown of vitamin D.

In adults, the same disorder is called osteomalacia or adult rickets. It is to be distinguished from osteoporosis where bone mass is decreased from hypophosphatemic osteopeniaof premature infants, and from renal osteodystrophy.

The name rickets is from the Old English wrickken, to twist. The more technical medical term, rachitis, which comes from Greek, the spine , was suggested by Francis Glisson in 1650.

Vitamin D deficiency rickets occurs in underprivileged populations throughout the world, particular in the northern hemisphere.

Women in United States usually take multivitamins and eat vitamin D dairy foods so rickets and vitamin D deficiency is less a problem than in developing countries and northern Europe.
Vitamin D and Rickets