Rickets Is Back

It's a sad testament to the indifference in which many people hold their bodies, and the disinterest about the junk they put in them, that rickets -- a disease actually eliminated in the developed world about eighty years ago--  has been reported in the United Kingdom, one of the richest and most advanced countries in the world.

Coming on the heels of the case of a student admitted to the ER with scurvy -- a disease identified and eliminated way back in the eighteenth century -- this is a gloomy milestone indeed.

Both rickets and scurvy are conditions that should simply not arise in the 21st Century, because they are caused by simple vitamin deficiency and a severly unbalanced diet.

Scurvy which gives rise to bleeding gums and other nasties is simply a deficiency of vitamin C. Centuries ago, this was particularly prevalent in sailors, who had to live for months on end on a very restricted diet of ship's biscuits and very little else -- certainly no fresh fruit. The first practical cure was evolved by British naval surgeon, James Lind in the 1700s, who made sure his ship's crew eat a ration of citrus fruits. These tended to be limes, for their keeping qualities -- which gives rise to the nickname of us Brits as "Limeys".

Rickets is also a condition cause by a vitamin deficiency. In this case it is Vitamin D. Now the body manufactures its own Vitamin D as a reaction, when sunlight touches the skin. However, even when sunlight is restricted during these winter months, it is possible to get ample quantities of this vital vitamin from oily fish -- particularly sardines -- as well as eggs.

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