Did You Know?

Vitamin D Deficiency Seen in Adolescents

May 2005

Are we making sure that our youngsters are getting enough vitamin D in their daily diets? Apparently not, according to a study conducted by divisions of the Children's Hospital, Boston and Harvard Medical School. Although vitamin D deficiency has been documented as a frequent problem in studies of young adults, elderly persons and children in other countries, there is limited data on the prevalence of this nutritional deficiency among healthy U.S. teenagers. Researchers examined 307 adolescents and found that 24.1% were vitamin D deficient, and of those, 4.6% were severely vitamin D deficient. Researchers noted that the prevalence was highest in African American teenagers, especially during winter months, although the problem seems to be common across sex, season and ethnicity.

Arch Pediat Adolese Med. 158:531-537, 2004

New to Natural Health?
Tools
Customer Service

Sign Up for Our Emails