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Air pollution may cause vitamin D deficiency
NEW YORK: A haze of polluted air may cause vitamin D deficiency in young children, British investigators reported here at the 22nd annual meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, reports Reuters.Concerned that air pollution and related haze might block ultraviolet B radiation from sunlight, Dr. Zulf Mughal, a consultant pediatrician at the University of Manchester, England, worked with researchers at the University of Delhi, in India, to measure haze in Mori Gate, located in the central part of Delhi, and Gurgoan, on the city's outskirts.
Sunlight stimulates production of vitamin D in the body and in some countries, the vitamin is added to milk and other dairy products.
The researchers found that there was significantly more haze and less sunlight in the downtown part of Delhi, and less haze with more sunlight in the Gurgoan area, the researchers found.
Then they measured blood levels of calcium, vitamin D, and other indicators of bone growth in 56 children ages 9 to 24 months. Mughal's group found a significant difference in levels of vitamin D even thought the children came from families of similar socioeconomic status, had similar diets and were not taking vitamin supplements.
Children who lived in the more hazy downtown area of Delhi had a lower average level of vitamin D, than the children living on the outskirts of the city. Children living in high-pollution and high-haze areas should be offered vitamin D supplements, Mughal said. He pointed out that vitamin D deficiency is linked to other health problems besides rickets--a vitamin D deficiency that leads to abnormal bone growth--such as increased risk for colon cancer