John Myers
Children with vitamin D deficiency are more likely to develop serious and life-threatening diseases than children with healthy vitamin D levels. This was shown by a scientific study from the USA, for which the data of over 500 children who came to the intensive care unit between 2009 and 2010 with serious or life-threatening illnesses were evaluated. Forty percent of these children had a massive lack of the vitamin, which is essential for bone structure and the immune system, among other things.
Vitamin D deficiency makes children ill
Even if the human body can produce vitamin D itself, many people in our latitudes suffer from a vitamin D deficiency. In order to form the vitamin, the organism needs sufficient UVB radiation from the sun.
Vitamin plays an important role in the formation of bone substances, heart health, and the immune system. Adequate vitamin D supply is therefore essential, especially for children.
Vitamin D deficiency: Common in children in intensive care units
dr Kate Madden and her colleagues at Harvard Medical School’s Children’s Hospital Boston and the Medical University of South Carolina analyzed the blood counts of more than 500 underage patients who were admitted to the ICU with serious or life-threatening illnesses from November 2009 to November 2010.
The average vitamin D level was 22.5 ng/ml (nanograms per milliliter). Conventional doctors consider values of 30 ng/ml and higher to be sufficient, but from a holistic point of view 50 to 80 ng/ml are optimal.
However, forty percent of the children had vitamin D levels of less than 20 ng/ml and thus suffered from a massive vitamin D deficiency.
The researchers found that the lower the children’s vitamin D levels, the higher the severity of the disease on the day of admission to the clinic.
Preventing fatal diseases with vitamin D
dr Madden and her team emphasize that vitamin D deficiency is particularly common in seriously ill children.
Therefore, they recommend closely monitoring the blood values of such children and, if necessary, administering a dietary supplement with vitamin D. The enormous importance of vitamin D for health should not be underestimated.
