Rickets warning for pregnant women

Pregnant women are being urged to boost their intake of vitamin D during winter months to prevent their child suffering rickets.

Women should consider taking supplements if they are expecting or breastfeeding, the Department of Health said.

Although no exact data is available, health workers are seeing more children than ever with a vitamin D deficiency, the Department said.

A lack of the vitamin can cause seizures and rickets, which leads to bones not developing properly.

In the summer months, just 15 minutes exposure to sunlight per day (of the arms, head and shoulders) is enough for the body to make enough vitamin D for good health.

In the winter months, foods like oily fish, eggs, fortified cereals and bread can provide enough of the vitamin alongside the body's own stores.

But pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under four may also benefit from a supplement containing ten micrograms of vitamin D, the Department said.

It urged women to contact their GP for a blood test if they think they may be lacking the vitamin.

Although generally most common among the white population, many cases of rickets in the UK are seen in Asian, Afro-Caribbean and Middle Eastern children.

Some studies suggest as many as one in 100 children from ethnic minorities suffer from the deficiency.

Dark-skinned people do not absorb as much sunlight through the skin and may also wear clothing for cultural reasons that prevents exposure to the sun.

Rickets is a bone disease that was common at the start of the last century but was thought to have been eradicated in the 1950s because of improved nutrition.

It can affect bone development, causing deformities, as well as poor tooth formation, stunted growth and general ill health.

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