Perhaps it's my age, but I've known for years that lack of sunlight affects the skeleton. I don't think I knew that vitamin D was necessary to absorb calcium (and hence get strong bones) but I knew that kids in smoky cities often ended up with bent legs because the sunlight couldn't get through the smog.
It's been a while since rickets was a problem, because a healthy diet will supply a small amount of the vitamin (oily fish and eggs mainly), but two years ago the press were reporting that rickets was on the increase as a result of scares about over-exposure to sunlight.
So can someone explain why healthcare professionals (the term used on the news) are still ignorant about the need for dietary supplements in pregnant women and young children?
When I was a kid we were taught that lack of vitamin C gave you scurvy and affected your skin (and your gums), vitamin B was essential for nerve health (among other things) and all the rest. (Eat oranges, take your brewer's yeast tablet and get out in the sunshine for at least a few minutes every day.) So why aren't 'healthcare professionals' taught it today? And midwives in particular?
6 comments:
Never mind 'healthcare professionals' - why aren't mothers, fathers taught it? Ultimately they're the ones responsible for their children's welfare - there's far too much reliance on so-called professionals, all of which leaches away self-responsibility
It's ridiculous that Rickets is rife again in this day and age. I think it's because children these days spend too much time playing computer games which means they don't play outside in the sunshine. :(
I am a supervisor at a major pharmacy in the US and I asked one of our pharmacist about a vitamin supplement once and was told that she didn't know anything about those. They only taught the use of regulated medicine in college. I assume the same would be true for Doctors.
I have found that having grown up with two Chiropractors for parents, I know more about vitamins than the pharmacist do.
You need to look at the demographics, not just the numbers.
Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun.
I remember when my first husband was dying with advanced kidney cancer, he was terribly constipated and it distressed him greatly. The only thing the doctor could think of was that he ate more prunes (his appetite was non-existent at the time). I remember realising all too well that the medical profession do not have any idea about this kind of thing.
it so sad that you don't see children out playing anymore...
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