Pediatrician Mihai Craiu draws attention to the importance of vitamin D for children’s health and to the changes that have occurred in the last three decades in medical recommendations.
Vitamin D deficiency can lead to health problems in children PHOTO: Archive, Adevărul
According to the specialist, many aspects regarding the health of the little ones have changed in the 36 years of democracy, against the background of scientific advances, changing lifestyles and the influence of social networks, which often bring unvalidated information.
Before 1989, children in Romania received 200,000 IU of injectable vitamin D at ages 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months. In interwar Germany even very high oral doses were used, between 150,000 and 600,000 IU administered once, both for the prevention and for the treatment of diseases such as cutaneous tuberculosis or rheumatoid arthritis, in the so-called “stoss-therapie”.
“If there is one simple thing we can do for our children’s health then it would be oral vitamin D supplementation (all childhood up to 18, current protocols say) and walking or playing in the sun in the morning, ideally between 10.30am and 1pm, as this would ensure the best levels of vitamin D3 in the blood,” wrote Dr. Mihai Craiu, primary pediatrician at the “Alessandrescu-Rusescu” Institute for Mother and Child Health in Bucharest, on his Virtual Children’s Hospital Facebook page.
Normal levels of 25-OH vitamin D3 are essential for good health.
“Because people with a severe deficiency of vitamin D can develop allergic diseases, cardiovascular, neurological or metabolic diseases, they can have a higher frequency of cancers, serious infections, etc. In other words, without acceptable levels of vitamin D, in the current conditions of pollution and repeated exposure to ultra-processed foods, we will also develop other diseases, not only bone fragility (rickets in infants and young children or osteoporosis in adults)”, Dr. Craiu warned.
The doctor urges parents to take advantage of sunny days, because with the drop in temperatures, the body can no longer produce enough vitamin D by exposing the skin to ultraviolet radiation.
“Let’s enjoy the weather and the sun, because the cold is coming and we will no longer produce enough vitamin D in the skin”the pediatrician sent.
