Take Your Vitamins - Drink your Milk - Go Outside
All summer, we’ve been electronically pelting you with reasons to get your children outside. For instance: combating nature deficit disorder, fostering a good, old-fashioned appreciation for the environment, and encouraging creativity.
Now, for those who need it, there’s a medical reason to send your kids back outside for some healthy romping in the sun.
Vitamin D deficiency is a problem for millions of U.S. youth, says a national study that the Washington Post recently reported. Nine percent of youth (between ages 1 and 21) are officially deficient in the vitamin, and another 61 percent have worryingly low levels of the vitamin. That's millions and millions of kids.
Vitamin D deficiency is problematic for many reasons. For instance, it results in weaker bones and puts children at higher risk for heart disease, diabetes, and – historically -- rickets.
Among the factors responsible for the missing D: children swapping outside activities for video games and TV, and trading in vitamin-enhanced milk for sodas.
"This appears to be another result of our unhealthy lifestyles, including a sedentary society that doesn't go out in the sun much," the Post quotes a researcher as saying.
If you’re looking for ways to supplement your child’s Vitamin D intake, here’s some suggestions from The Green Life:
--Jamie Hansen
Posted by Green Life at 03:17:45 PM
in Outdoors
