Rickets And Cod Liver Oil...

[sandyRoe]

Did the spoonfuls of cod liver oil we were forced to take when we were children mean we grew up straight limbed and in no danger of getting rickets?

[emmie]

not really


Rickets usually occurs because of a lack of vitamin D or calcium. It can also be caused by a genetic defect or another health condition.
Lack of vitamin D and calcium

The most common cause of rickets is a lack of vitamin D or calcium in a child’s diet. Both are essential for children to develop strong and healthy bones. The main sources of vitamin D are:

Sunlight – your skin produces vitamin D when it is exposed to the sun. We get most of our vitamin D this way.
Food – vitamin D is also found in foods such as oily fish, eggs and fortified breakfast cereals.

[Sqad]

Yes, sandy it certainly did.

However, I have no idea why Rickets is presenting itself once again in the 21st century.

I don't buy either the dietary or lack of sunlight explanations.

[emmie]

you have parents who slap factor 1000 on their children before they go out to play in the sun, and many children are not going out to play enough as it is, one mum featured on the news last evening said she can't get her son away from the X box, daft isn't it, why doesn't she just shut the thing down for a bit and take him out for a while.

[emmie]

the info i presented was from NHS - so they are wrong then?

[Sqad]

emmie....no idea......i never go to websites..........just rely on my own experiences.

[emmie]

interesting the prevalence of rickets in Asian families, children, read down a little it gives the info

http://www.bupa.co.uk/individuals/health-information/directory/r/rickets

[emmie]

didn't you work in NHS at one time, then private medicine. - Besides each site be it here or in USA says much the same thing. Diet seems to be playing it's part, junk food, how much benefit in effect does that have, or prepacked ready meals - and some people don't seem to have a clue how to cook fish or like it?

[emmie]

so what is you explain as to why it's returned to UK?

[sandyRoe]

Funny how things come round again. I now force myself to take a spoonful most mornings to try and grease my joints and keep them from seizing up.

[boxtops]

I take it in capsule form, sandy, more palatable than on a spoon.

[sandyRoe]

^ Lubricate, rather than grease.

[Tilly2]

Try capsules, Sandy. Much easier to take.

[Sqad]

emmie.....

\\\\\so what is you explain as to why it's returned to UK? \\\

I have no idea, but getting back to the OP......Rickets was almost "rampant" in the early 1900's and this was "turned around" almost overnight by the evidence that Cod liver oil had anti-rachitic properties.

Diet?........surely today, even with foodbanks ;-)....this can't be a major cause of Vit D deficiency.

Sun?......well it could be, even with P.C's but surely at school, they are let out into the open air, even though it is cloudy.

Perhaps Lazygun may have an answer.

[Tilly2]

^^^^^^Sorry, boxy. Didn't see you there.

My mum used to force cod liver oil and malt down my throat. A big. globule spoonful. Yeuk!

[sandyRoe]

It doesn't taste that bad. I suppose to someone who'd developed a taste for strong drink nothing, not even fish oil, is undrinkable. :-)

[emmie]

i hated taking cod liver oil capules, they repeated on me endlessly, burp and you bring up the taste of the fish oil, disgusting. I would rather just buy a nice piece of haddock, or on the odd occasion mackerel fillets, though i can't be arsed with the really bony fishes.

[hc4361]

Do you really believe digested fish oil greases your joints, sandy?

[Sqad]

emmie...LOL...very sensible.

[emmie]

foodbanks, not sure get that thought? you mean some people are not getting enough to eat, or the right sort of food - fish should be on everyone's menu, at least once a week, but from experience many don't know how to cook it, or have tried and given up as too fiddly

[ummmm]

If you can cook meat you can cook fish.