Monday, August 3, 2009

American children suffer from sunshine deficit

A new report claims that seven out of 10 American children are too low in vitamin D levels. Vitamin D deficiency causes the body to reabsorb calcium from the skeleton, weakening bones. It also increases risk of heart disease, rickets and probably other bad health issues researchers haven't yet discovered.

The conventional advice to remedy this health problem, of course, is: go buy a product. In this case, it's either milk with added (often synthetic) vitamin D, or vitamin D pills.

Vitamin D is not a vitamin. It's a hormone. Your body produces it when your skin is exposed to sunshine.

Milk isn't all that good for you. Neither are fake hormones in a pill. The best advice is to turn kids loose outside. They will get exercise, sunshine, fresh air and other things they need without anyone buying anything, or without experimenting on kids with ill-advice public health initiatives.