The return of rickets...

[dutchman]

Doctors have called for under-fours to be given free vitamins after a rise in the number of cases of rickets due to a lack of exposure to sunlight.

The country's chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies is said to be concerned at the number of children suffering from the condition, which is caused by a deficiency in vitamin D.

The disease, a scourge of Victorian Britain, was virtually eradicated after the Second World War but is returning as more and more youngsters are used to staying indoors playing video games than going outside.

Now, it has been reported that Professor Davies has ordered the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) to review the cost of providing vitamin supplements to all children under the age of four, in a bid to reverse the trend.

The move is being supported by one of Britain's leading experts on vitamin D deficiency at University College Hospital London Alastair Sutcliffe, who has spoken about an 'epidemic' of cases due to a lack of sun exposure and overuse of sunscreen.

Rickets, which is also known as soft bones, can cause deformities such as bowed legs and a curvature of the spine.

During the war children were given food supplements such as cod liver oil, but this practice stopped in the 1950s.

An estimated 40 per cent of children are estimated to have vitamin D levels below the recommended amount.

Figures from the NHS show there were 833 hospital admissions for children suffering from the condition in the financial year 2012-13.

Professor Davies said the UK’s record on children’s health used to be ‘one of the best but we are now the worst’.