About 60 percent of children and adolescents with vitamin D deficiency

Why Kids Need Vitamin D Right Now

Last year, a study showed that vitamin D supply in Germany is deficient. The investigation was for adults. Vitamin D deficiency is also common in children and adolescents. The majority of girls and boys have "more or less degraded values," the Foundation for Child Health informs.

Vitamin D deficiency is common

In recent years, scientific studies have been carried out repeatedly, which came to the conclusion that many Germans suffer from vitamin D deficiency. As the Foundation for Child Health now reports in a newsletter, vitamin D deficiency is also common in children and adolescents. According to the experts, studies showed that a total of 63 percent of children and adolescents had more or less depressed levels of vitamin D..

Many children and adolescents in Germany suffer from vitamin D deficiency. Health experts recommend more outdoor stays. Nutrition also plays an important role in vitamin D supply. (Image: Andrey Kuzmin / fotolia.com)

Special status among the vitamins

Vitamin D has a special place among vitamins: it is produced in our body itself, more specifically in human skin. However, it does not happen by itself: you need the light of the sun for that.

Only the ultraviolet rays of the sun are able to activate the precursors of vitamin D stored in the skin and convert them into vitamin D..

Since there is less sunshine in the cold season, it is not uncommon for a long winter to cause vitamin D deficiency.

Important for a healthy growth of children

Vitamin D is crucial for the thriving and healthy growth of children, emphasizes the Foundation for Child Health: Your body needs it to build up the bones and also to supply the heart muscle and nervous system with calcium.

"Vitamin D is not really a vitamin at all: It recognizes the functions of a hormone in the organism," explains Professor Dr. med. Berthold Koletzko, Metabolism Expert at the University Children's Hospital Munich and Chairman of the Foundation for Child Health.

"The effect of the vitamin D hormone is via so-called vitamin D receptors. Such receiving sites for the vitamin can be found in about 40 different tissues of the human body, "said the physician.

"In this way, the vitamin influences the formation of many proteins, enzymes and messengers, which in turn control and influence numerous physical processes."

Vitamin D is of central importance for bone metabolism. Only with sufficient supply of vitamin D (400 to 800 international units per day) is the calcium component optimally absorbed through the intestines and then incorporated into the bone.

Vitamin D also has an effect on muscle power, regulates calcium and phosphate metabolism and is also involved in other metabolic processes in the body.

Winter sun is beautiful, but rare and too weak

In Germany, however, there is sufficient UVB radiation for the development of vitamin D in the skin exclusively in the months from April to September between 10 am and 3 pm, according to the Foundation for Child Health.

Then it's time to recharge your batteries. In this time, sufficient in ten to 15 minutes stay in the sun sufficient amounts of the important vitamin.

In the dark months from January to April, things are different because the sun is too low during this time. Even when it does shine, its rays fall in too low an angle to stimulate the synthesis of vitamin D in the skin.

Experts recommend dietary supplements

The supply of vitamin D via the diet with the usual foods, however, is not enough to provide the organism of children and adolescents in the absence of sunlight with sufficient amounts of vitamin D..

Fortunately, vitamin D can be stored in the body, emphasizes the Foundation Child Health. The supply of muscle, adipose tissue and, sometimes, liver, contributes to vitamin D supply in winter.

Infants and toddlers may be particularly affected by a risky vitamin D deficiency, since the vitamin D content of breast milk is relatively low and the tender skin of children at this age should not be exposed to the sun due to the lack of a protective mechanism.

The recommendation of the Foundation Child Health is therefore in accordance with the scientific organizations of paediatricians:

All babies in Germany from the first week of life until the second experienced early summer, so depending on the date of birth for a period of one to one and a half years, in addition to breast milk or baby food tablets or drops with daily 400 to 500 units of vitamin D 3 get prescribed by a doctor.

Vitamin D supplementation should be best combined with fluoride prophylaxis against tooth decay. Preterm infants weighing less than 1,500 grams should receive a higher daily dose of 800 to 1,000 units of vitamin D during the first few months of life.

For some adults, the regular intake of vitamin supplements may make sense. However, dietary supplements with vitamin D are not recommended for all people, as experts warned the Apothekerkammer Niedersachsen.

Basically, not too much of it may be taken. Because according to the drug commission of the German medical profession (AkdÄ), it can also lead to an overdose with vitamin D supplements.

Danger for couch potatoes and mobile addicts

The largest child and adolescent health examination in Germany to date KiGGS examined the questions in which children and adolescents in Germany otherwise often vitamin D deficiency occurs, how pronounced it is, which conditions favor its emergence and in which months the risk of a deficiency consists.

Blood samples were taken and analyzed in 15,171 participating children and adolescents. In total, 63 percent of children and adolescents had more or less depressed levels of vitamin D in their studies.

Low levels of vitamin D have been found most frequently in children from migrant families, those with low social status, children in incomplete families and nursing homes, children and adolescents who rarely participate in sports, or who play in the open air Children and young people with a pronounced television and media consumption.

Children and adolescents from immigrant families with darker skin color, as regularly present in Turkish, Arabic, Asian or African origin, are also at risk of a shortage.

The reason: The UVB rays of the sun are held back stronger by the dark pigment in the skin. As a result, not enough vitamin D is formed in the skin.

Vitamin D is not a panacea

The KiGGS study found notable correlations between vitamin D levels and children's development, behavior and quality of life.

According to the parents, among 14- to 18-year-olds, the risk of being treated for emotional developmental or behavioral problems is nearly five times higher when vitamin D levels are very low.

Adolescents with very low vitamin D scores generally rate their own quality of life worse than peers with normal scores.

However, vitamin D is not a panacea, as it is sometimes suggested by advertising, emphasizes the Foundation Child Health.

Its benefits for bones and teeth is beyond doubt, but the additional intake of vitamin D products has no scientifically proven undoubted impact on the occurrence of common diseases such as heart attack, stroke or diabetes.

For example, a New Zealand researcher has shown that such pills usually can not prevent diseases.

Face in the sun and fish on the table

The most important recommendations of the Foundation for Child Health are therefore:

Taking into account the necessary protection against sunburn, all children should be outdoors regularly.

When sun protection should always be according to experts on the UV index and not save creaming.

The best time of day for vitamin D production in the skin is between 10:00 and 15:00 in Germany.

Even sunbathing twice a week for five to 30 minutes during this time with uncovered head, free arms and legs is sufficient to produce sufficient amounts of vitamin D..

This is the most effective way to improve the supply of vitamin D..

Parents should also try to make their kids taste the fish from an early age.

Regular fish meals, once or twice a week, with high-fat fish such as herring, mackerel or salmon contribute to the vitamin D supply and are also beneficial to health for other reasons. (Ad)