In children, this can lead to severe deformities which can require corrective surgery. Nutritional rickets was a fairly common disease in urban areas of the US and UK at the beginning of the 20th century. However, the introduction of routine vitamin D supplements helped to virtually eradicate the disorder by the 1950s. Making a comeback Now research in the Journal of Pediatrics suggests the disorder has recently made a comeback. Researchers from Wake Forest University and the University of North Carolina studied 30 children diagnosed with nutritional rickets over a 10-year period.
Most people produce vitamin D when their skin is exposed to sunlight.
He said it was difficult to assess the full scope of the problem as many doctors were unfamiliar with the condition, and therefore failed to diagnose it. However, if you are attuned to the problem, if you walk around any area with high immigration, certainly in the north west of England, you often see children walking with a funny-looking gait that could well be rickets. She said those most at risk were infants, usually from immigrant communities, whose mothers continued to breastfeed for long periods, and who, for religious reasons, did not believe in exposing the skin to sunlight.