According to a new study, approximately 70 percent of kids in America have a vitamin D deficiency, leading to higher risk for bone and heart disease.

    "We expected the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency would be high, but the magnitude of the problem nationwide was shocking," said Juhi Kumar, M.D., M.P.H., the lead author of the study.

    Almost one in 10 kids or 7.6 million children - are lacking in vitamin D. Low vitamin D is dangerous, however vitamin D deficiency is a serious health threat in which the body begins to reabsorb calcium from the skeleton.

    The study reveled that vitamin D deficiency was seen more in older children as well as female, African-American, Mexican-American, obese kids, and in those who drank milk less often than once a week.

    The body turns sunlight into vitamin D. The researchers in part blamed the low vitamin D levels on children using sunscreen when they do go outdoors. The discovered that kids who spent more time indoors watching TV, playing video games and using computers were more likely to have low levels of vitamin D.

    Milk is one of the primary sources of vitamin D for most kids, and it has been a growing trend for kids to not drink milk each day. Another risk factor for low vitamin D levels was reported to be at least 3 to 4 hours of television and computer use each day, which many parents know their kids get.

    There is now a committee at the Institute of Medicine that is meeting to specify whether the suggested daily intake of vitamin D should be increased.

    一項最新研究表明，約70%的美國兒童維他命D缺乏。維他命D缺乏提高了骨病和心臟病的發病危險。

    "盡管我們預計到了維他命D缺乏普遍存在，但是該病的全國統計數字還是令人震驚的，"此項研究的主要撰筆人庫瑪 醫生表示。

    幾乎十分之一的兒童即七百六十萬兒童體內缺少維他命D.而體內維他命D含量過低是很危險的，會嚴重威脅身體健康，導致身體重新吸收骨骼里的鈣成分。

    該研究透露，維他命D缺乏更常見于十多歲的兒童、女性、非裔美國人、墨裔美國人、肥胖兒童以及喝牛奶頻率少于每周一次的人身上。

    身體將太陽光轉化為維生素D.研究人員認為兒童體內維他命D含量過低部分原因是由兒童外出時使用防曬用品導致的。研究發現，那些把更多時間用于在室內看電視、打電玩、玩電腦的兒童更容易患有維他命D缺乏。

    對于大多數兒童而言，牛奶是維他命D的主要來源，現在不喝牛奶的孩子日趨增多。據報道，維他命D含量過低的另外一個原因是兒童每天看電視、玩電腦的時間至少在三至四個小時，這還是在父母知道的情況下。

    現在醫學委員會委員正在開會研究是否應該建議提高每日的維生素D攝入量。