Primary schools targeted in drive to reduce rickets

It may be the year 2006, but health professionals in Bradford have begun a programme of vitamin D drops in the hope of reducing the recent rise in rickets. The decision to begin the scheme was made after a study of children over three years found that more than 300 were deficient in Vitamin D.

Every child under 2 in Bradford's inner city is being offered the vitamin boost in the form of drops.

'We are still seeing children with rickets and low calcium levels due to a lack of vitamin D,' said researcher Shirley Brierley. 'We should not be seeing any chidren with it at all.'

Researchers found that Asian girls were at greatest risk of rickets. Vitamin D is absorbed from the sun by the skin, a process that can be restricted by Muslim dress codes.

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