Screen-obsessed UK ‘faces rickets epidemic’
As children shun the sun, expert says: Take Vitamin D
BRITISH children are at risk of a rickets epidemic as they spend more time indoors playing on smartphones and tablets, an expert has warned.
Steve Jones, a leading geneticist, said the condition – common in Victorian times – was coming back ‘at some speed’ as youngsters spent less time in the sun, which meant they received less vitamin D.
He described the vitamin as ‘very important stuff’ which can help tackle disease and strengthen the immune system.
Mr Jones, formerly head of the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London, said he has resorted to taking supplements to boost his intake.
‘Children today spend an hour a day less outside than they did ten years ago,’ he told the Hay Festival. ‘That’s the smartphone and the tablet situation.
‘Scottish children spend less time in the sun than any other children in the world. Rickets is coming back and rickets is coming back at some speed ... because of a shift in human behaviour which we never thought would happen.’
The condition affects bone development in children, causing pain, poor growth and soft, weak bones that can lead to deformities.
It can be caused by a lack of vitamin D, sources of which include sunlight and food such as oily fish and egg yolks. Mr Jones said he has resorted to taking supplements to compensate for a lack of time spent outside in the sun.
He said: ‘I never thought I would be a person who would take vitamin supplements, I always thought it was absolute nonsense. I now take vitamin D every day.
‘I do that because of the evidence that the shortage of sunlight has drastic effects on health is overwhelming. It can be seen in Britain – men in Scotland still have a twoyear less life expectancy than men in England and Wales. Scotland is still the sick man of Europe.’
Mr Jones added that multiple sclerosis levels were highest in northern Canada, and almost unheard of in tropical countries. In the UK, levels are higher in Scotland than England, with the highest being in Orkney.
‘The Scots are the palest people in the world … and that’s because their entire body systems are crying out for vitamin D,’ he said. ‘The body responds to vitamin D in many unexpected ways. In terms of the immune system, it can help tackle infectious disease, it changes mood. If you have a shortage you’re more likely to get kidney disease. It is really, really important stuff.’
He said it was shocking that rickets was returning after having been virtually eradicated in the 1950s. Cases have more than doubled in a decade, with some 450 children admitted to hospital with the disease each year.