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Women in hijabs 'need sunlight or risk illness'
Last updated at 10:22am on 18.07.07
The traditional hijab could be preventing some women from receiving enough sunlight on their skin
Muslim women who wear the hijab are at risk of serious illness because they do not get enough sun, doctors have warned.
They said an alarming number of women who cover their skin are suffering bone deficiencies over a lack of vitamin D.
Most of the body's vitamin D - which prevents rickets - is obtained through sunlight acting on the skin. Only a little comes from food.
Doctors told a London conference today that people with dark pigment are at risk because of "cultural reasons" and because they are less efficient at producing the vitamin.
The bone disorder rickets has now broken out in young Muslim children as babies are not getting enough calcium from mothers' breast milk.
The National Health Service is launching a campaign aimed at Muslim women, particularly Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Somalis, to encourage them to increase their vitamin D intake.
A Department of Health spokesman said: "For ethnic groups there is an increased risk of vitamin D deficiency as people with dark and pigmented skin are less efficient at making vitamin D in their skin.
"They need to spend longer outside to make similar amounts and those who wear concealing clothing are unlikely to make enough.
"Studies have shown low vitamin D levels in Asian women in the UK - particularly among those who cover most of their skin for cultural reasons."
The problem first came to light in Bradford, which has one of the highest Muslim populations in Britain.
Community leaders and doctors will today warn a conference in Acton that women in London are also in danger of passing vitamin deficiencies to their children. The Department of Health project - called Healthy Start - comes after studies show Muslim children lack vitamin D.
Officials are concerned it is driven by mothers who are not getting enough of the vitamin because they are fully covered by the hijab.
This is because vitamin D helps calcium get absorbed from the intestine and pushes the calcium into the bone.
The Government is calling on community leaders to warn Muslims they need more sunlight and better diets. Pregnant women are also advised to take vitamin D supplements and folic acid.
A spokeswoman said: "People may be at risk if they are South Asian, African or African-Caribbean and have low exposure to sunlight, for example if they observe Hijab or do not spend much time outside."
She said a poor diet or restricted diet such as veganism, also posed dangers. "Breastfeeding is recommended for all babies, however a baby may be at risk if breast-fed and the mother has a low vitamin D level herself."
Through the Healthy Start scheme qualifying families and pregnant women will be given vouchers for fruit and vegetables as well as milk and infant formula, plus free vitamin supplements.
One official said: "We are not interfering in a Muslim woman's right to wear the hijab, but we are stressing that we all need sunlight on our skins. If you have your head and skin covered, then you risk stopping these natural rays from topping up vital vitamins."
Reader views (9)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
"They're just saying that you need to get some sunlight to your skin-maybe in the privacy of your home, sitting near a window. "
Mustn't it be an open window?
- J M Trane, Tromsø, Norway
I have asked five doctors about this issue and they have tolled me that having your hands exposed to the sun for 30 minutes is more that enough.
So muslim woman can wear their hijab with out thinking that their hijab is going to make their Vitamin D level low, in fact the percentage of vitamin D deficient is very high all around the world and in males too.
The hijab is part of our religion and every one on this earth should respect it, in fact it is not only Islam that asks the woman to cover their heads and bodies. I've seen some nuns cover their heads and bodies just like Virgin Marry.
- Rana Ahmad, Australia
I don't think they're saying that you shouldn't wear the hijab. They're just saying that you need to get some sunlight to your skin- maybe in the privacy of your home, sitting near a window.
Many people have vitamin d deficiencies, but if you are getting no sunlight at all, you're probably more than just slightly deficient since most vitamin d comes from the sun. Someone who is extremely deficient will probably have more extreme health issues than someone who is slightly deficient.
Try getting some private sunlight and adding more vitamin d fortified foods to your diet. A light skinned person only needs 15-20 minutes of sun a day, someone with darker skin needs more, but you still won't need alot. ( I don't know how much, but any should help).
- Kara, US
Religious requirements contrary to human health are not in women's interests. To justify them is fundamentally damaging. This applies not just to hijab, or its more restrictive niqab and burqa, but to stoning, death penalties for alleged adultery, rather than civil procedures such as separation and financial reparation, 200 lashings for being raped, if the woman was not chaperoned, arranged marriages, forced divorces, female genital mutilation, and honour killings, which the Muslim world tolerates, and is failing to face up to.
Hijab is not modesty. The root word of hijab is hajaba and that means: (hajb) to veil, cover, screen, shelter, seclude (from), to hide, obscure (from sight), to make imperceptible, invisible, to conceal, to make or form a separation (a woman), to disguise, masked, to conceal, hide, to flee from sight, veil, to veil, conceal, to cover up, become hidden, to be obscured, to vanish, to become invisible, disappear from sight, to veil, to conceal, to withdraw, to elude perception.
There is no valid justification for these impositions on women's reproductive, social, educational, work and sexual choices and it is not ordained by God.
- Chris King, Auckland, NZ
Hijab is worn all over the world, it doesn't make sense to me that this finding has all of a sudden emerged due to women wearing the hijab only in the UK. Alcoholism is wrong, it leads to vast number of health dangers and it's an aspect of other religions, it’s a point to be targeted too by those concerned with the health. I think we should stop targeting hijab and Islam.
- Rahima Sanya, Dar es Salaam
This article ignores many many facts such as:
* 32% of doctors and med school students are vitamin D deficient.
* 40% of the U.S. population is vitamin D deficient.
* 42% of African American women of childbearing age are deficient in vitamin D.
* 48% of young girls (9-11 years old) are vitamin D deficient.
* Up to 60% of all hospital patients are vitamin D deficient.
* 76% of pregnant mothers are severely vitamin D deficient, causing widespread vitamin D deficiencies in their unborn children, which predisposes them to type 1 diabetes, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia later in life. 81% of the children born to these mothers were deficient.
* Up to 80% of nursing home patients are vitamin D deficient.
This is not just a Muslim woman problem.
Many women are on Vitamin D supplements and dark skin seems to be more of a cause than covering up.
Also, covering up is part of Islam, it is part of our religion, saying that it's not is intellectually and historically dishonest.
The wearing of the veil is no way superstitious.
Muslim women aren't afraid to go out without the veil, however, many of us want to veil. Isn't it a free country?
- Aysha, USA
As a Muslim female health professional who works for the NHS and pays a lot of taxes let me get some things straight with you.
1. Hijaab (modesty) is a religious requirement
2. Muslim women in other countries do not encounter this problem
3. Treating Vit D deficiency is not expensive at all
4. Muslim women work, pay taxes and contribute towards the NHS
5. My taxes also pay for treating smoking/drinking related illnesses. As a Muslim who does not drink or smoke I could moan about my taxes paying to treat such problems - but I have more sense and intelligence to do so
6. There are many Western women on Vit D/Calcium suppements. This problem is not limited to Muslim women.
- Noreen Khan, Yorkshire
The time has come to draw a clear distinction between 'religion' and 'superstition'. The wearing of the full veil is a superstitious rather than a religious observance. Superstition is defined in the OED as 'unreasoning awe or fear of something unknown, mysterious or imaginary; esp. in connection with religion, religious belief or practice founded on fear or ignorance'. What dire consequence do Muslims think women will suffer if they should venture into the streets without a veil?
- Magnus Nielsen, London UK
So these hostile and provocative women are not only using their ghoulish wrappings as a political statement (as the hijab is not part of their 'religion') but the effect of their wearing this shroud has to be borne by us as well - treatment for vitamin D deficiency diseases by our NHS, which undoubtedly they have never paid a penny into in their lives.
- Judith Chisholm, London
