Vitamin D Deficiency Causes Rickets, Vitamin D Major Source and Foods with Vitamin D

Rickets causes soft, weak bones in children. It usually occurs in children who are deficient vitamin D. This vitamin helps growing bones absorb important nutrients.

The major source of vitamin D is from sunlight. Human skin will produce vitamin D in response to the sun’s UV rays.

Some foods also contain vitamin D, including:

  • tuna
  • herring
  • salmon
  • cod liver oil
  • fortified dairy products, cereals

These are some common causes for a vitamin D deficiency:

  • lactose intolerant
  • spend little time in sunlight
  • dark skin needs additional sun
  • consume a strictly vegetarian diet
  • sunscreen on all of the time, blocking all UV rays
  • breastfeeding without vitamin D supplementation

Rickets is a recently growing problem in the U.S, largely due to the lack of time in its major source.  To prevent rickets, send your child out to play in the sun for at least 15 minutes, without sunscreen.

A total of an hour a week of sun should be enough, with additional time allowance for darker skin. And you need to be out in the sun with them as well.

In addition to dietary rickets, children can get an inherited form of the disease.

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