Lack of Vitamin D in kids linked to risks later in life

MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT
From Monday's Globe and Mail
May 4, 2009 at 11:05 AM EDT
The first Canadian study to investigate vitamin D levels in toddlers has found that more than 80 per cent of the children tested didn't have enough of the sunshine vitamin and nearly a third had such low amounts that doctors classified them as deficient.
The finding, based on blood tests of two-year olds from the Toronto area, suggests that shortfalls in vitamin D may be widespread in young children across the country, potentially placing them at an elevated risk of developing a wide range of diseases later in life, including multiple sclerosis, cancer and juvenile diabetes.
"Vitamin D deficiency is associated with a number of chronic medical conditions," observed Jonathon Maguire, a researcher at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children and lead author of the study, who called the results "concerning." Click here to read the article (and if you are in a silly mood, check out some of the comments after the article----whoa, those women are in a catfight-----it's pretty funny!)