To send a link and summary of this article to a friend, click here . T he D in vitamin D could very well stand for different . Children who don't get adequate vitamin D develop rickets, a condition characterized by flaring ankles and wrists that have noticeable knobby bumps and by weak, soft leg bones that bow under the child's own weight. Similarly, adults risk developing osteomalacia, a condition similar to rickets but occurring in developed bones. Some experts believe that not getting enough vitamin D can make osteoporosis worse.
Osteoporosis is a bone-weakening disease that leads to fractures and tooth loss.
Vitamin D is responsible for getting the important bone builders calcium and phosphorus to the places in the body that they need to go to help bone grow in children and remineralize in adults. It does this first by making certain these minerals are absorbed in the intestines, second by bringing calcium from bones into the blood and third by helping the kidneys reabsorb the two minerals, says Binita R. Shah, M.D., professor of clinical pediatrics and director of pediatric emergency medicine at the State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn. When you see a case of rickets, the body is desperately trying to make bone, but adequate calcium and phosphorus aren't available. It's a poor effort. Fortified milk is one ready source of vitamin D , although it takes a quart to provide the Daily Value.