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'Shocking' lack of vitamin D found in children
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A beach in Puerto Penasco
This time next week I'm going to be sitting on a beach in Mexico, drinking a margarita and looking out on the Sea of Cortez. We went last year, and enjoyed it so much we'll do it again this year. One thing I learned, though, is that the sun is really powerful in that part of the world. I mean, I knew that, intellectually, but that's different than listening to my poor middle son cry in his sleep because he got such a bad burn, even with sunscreen on.
The thing is, I'm pretty careful about sun protection. My grandmother, of whom I am something approaching a clone, has had several skin cancers removed; my younger sister, who doesn't burn nearly as badly as I do, has already had several problematic moles removed. I wear sunscreen every day, and seldom appear in bright light (there was a for-real rumor in my high school that I was a vampire). I am not quite so careful with my kids, but they do wear sunscreen to school during the first and last months of the school year, as well as any time they'll be out in sun for any length of time. Perhaps one of my major roles in life is the anti-sun.
This story, then, about the "shocking" number of vitamin D deficient struck me as a very modern Catch-22: If you go out unprotected into the sun, you get cancer. If you don't, you get rickets. But as it turns out, researchers think that the use of sunscreen is secondary; a accomplice, not the criminal. The larger cause, they say, is children's sedentary life style. They just don't get out in the sun to play much anymore. Also, as we know, the American diet is appalling lacking in nutrients.
I have to say, though, that their dietary recommendations struck me as odd. Fish? Fine. I mean, even my finickiest eater enjoyed a well-seasoned salmon the other day, but kids don't, as a general rule, care for fish. (At least, not this far inland. I always thought I hated all fish except trout, but yet another trip to Mexico taught me that I just don't like old fish. Ah, Mexico. Is there anything it can't teach you?) But the other recommendation was milk. Which . . . I dunno. Do kids not drink milk any more? I loathe the stuff, and my husband only uses it for cereal, but what with all the kids we have around here (well, okay, only three, but they feel like a horde) we still make our way through four or so gallons a week. And I don't let them drink nearly as much as they want, because it grosses me out, and because I don't think cow's milk is good for humans. If I left them to their own devises, they'd probably consume twice that. So it comes as a surprise to me that officials are recommending that kids drink more milk.
That's not the only problem I have. There's the disturbing news that %70 of kids are deficient, but it doesn't say how many, if any, are actually suffering ill effects. That's not to say that they aren't, but it seems like an epidemic of rickets would have been highlighted in the article.
Plus, there's a bit thrown in there that I find suspicious: That breast-fed babies should get supplements because they don't get enough vitamin D in their mother's milk, as opposed to the more appropriate formula. Call me an old lactivist, but I'm suspicious of anything that dismisses the food infant humans thrived on for millennia as unsuitable for infants' needs. It was only recently that we became aware of sun dangers, but it's not like babies of old were stepping out for a bit of street hockey between sucklings.
Then again, "traditional" baby rearing did always include a walk in the fresh air, even in cold weather. So maybe there is something to this. Still, I think letting your baby have a bit of nakey play time in the sun coming through the window is better than futzing around with supplements.
And in the end, that's mostly what the experts recommend. Not the nakey part (that gets tricky after about four or so) but to make sure your kids get some time outdoors everyday. They recommend that you not put on sunscreen for the first ten minutes; personally, I wonder if it isn't better to have them out when the sun is weaker, like after school.
Either way, my kids will all be wearing extra sunscreen on the beach. And hats. And swim shirts. And I'll be sipping my margarita under a parasol.
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