Vitamin D call to pregnant women

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The Department of Health urged women to consider taking supplements if they are expecting or breastfeeding.

Although no exact data is available, health workers are seeing more children than ever with a vitamin D deficiency, the Department said.

A lack of the vitamin can cause seizures and rickets, which leads to bones not developing properly. It also leads to deformities, as well as poor tooth formation, stunted growth and general ill health.

In the summer months, just 15 minutes exposure to sunlight per day (of the arms, head and shoulders) is enough for the body to make enough vitamin D for good health.

In the winter months, foods like oily fish, eggs, fortified cereals and bread can provide enough of the vitamin alongside the body's own stores.

But pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under four may also benefit from a supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D, the Department said.

It urged women to contact their GP for a blood test if they think they may be lacking the vitamin.

Although generally most common among the white population, many cases of rickets in the UK are seen in Asian, Afro-Caribbean and Middle Eastern children. Some studies suggest as many as one in 100 children from ethnic minorities suffer from the deficiency.

In winter months, at latitudes of 52 degrees north (above Birmingham), there is no ultraviolet light of the appropriate wavelength for the body to make vitamin D in the skin, according to the Department.