Vitamin D deficiency afflicts millions of US children and increases their risk for bone disorders, diabetes and cardiac disease, according to 2 new studies.

In the first study, Michal Melamed and colleagues from Albert Einstein College of Medicine found that 9% of those between ages 1-21 had Vitamin D levels low enough to be called deficient. That’s 7.6 million children, adolescents and young adults.

An astounding 61% more– nearly 51 million people–have slightly below normal levels.  “At first, we couldn’t believe the numbers,” said Melamed. “It’s very worrisome.”

In their nationally representative sample of 6,000 children, the scientists found that girls, adolescents and African Americans were at particular risk. A whopping 59% of teenage African American girls were Vitamin D deficient.

“This appears to be another result of our unhealthy lifestyles, including a sedentary society that doesn’t go out in the sun much,” Melamed told the Washington Post.

The scientists said contributing factors included kids spending too much time watching TV and playing video games, use of long-sleeves and sunscreen when they do go out, and substituting soda for milk and Vitamin D fortified foods.

Ominously, the study revealed that low Vitamin D levels were associated with hypertension and metabolic syndrome, a precursor of diabetes.

In the second study, the NHLBI’s Jared Reis confirmed that Vitamin D deficient individuals were at greater risk for hypertension, hyperglycemia and metabolic syndrome.  Both studies support earlier reports from Weill Cornell Medical College.

Recently, an expert panel representing the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended markedly increased dietary intake of Vitamin D. The IOM is conducting a review of federal guidelines on the same matter.

For legions parents that have endured far too many sleepless nights trying to console colicky babies, relief might be on the way.

Scientists think they’ve identified a bacterium that causes the nerve-racking condition, in which otherwise healthy babies scream for hours.

Colic affects nearly 15% of all infants in the US.

Pediatrics professor J. Marc Rhoads and colleagues at the University of Texas are proposing that Klebsiella is the culprit. The gram-negative bacterium resides in the gastrointestinal tracts of humans of every age, but in colicky babies only, the bug seems to trigger an inflammatory reaction in the intestines.

In non-colicky babies, Klebsiella causes no such disturbance.

Previous theories held that babies receiving cow’s milk were more likely to suffer from colic, but research on the matter has failed to support that claim. The colicky babies in Rhoads’ study for example, included some who were fed breast milk and some who received formula.

Rhoads speculated that colic might actually be a precursor to other gastrointestinal maladies ranging from  irritable bowel syndrome to Celiac disease. “Inflammation in the gut of colicky infants closely compared to levels in patients with inflammatory bowel disease,” he told BurrillReport.

The write-up appears in Pediatrics.

Typicially, pediatricians prescribe hypoallergenic formulas for the treatment of colic, but as harried parents can attest, the approach is often ineffective.

Rhoads believes his teams’ discovery might eventually save lives.

“Colic can be a dangerous situation for a baby. The parent’s frustration over the crying can lead to maternal frustration, post-partum depression, and even thoughts of harming the baby,” he told Burrill.

“More than half of infanticides fall into the age category of colic. We may be able to prevent deaths if we can find a treatment.”

Nearly one in 5 school-age children are afflicted with eczema, a monumentally annoying skin disorder characterized by red, itchy, patchy lesions that when scratched, mature into crusty, weeping sores which often become superinfected with staphylococcus aureus.

Once bacterial superinfection occurs, physicians typically prescribe oral or topical antibiotics with the downside being rapid development of resistance including that dreaded scourge, MRSA.

But now scientists at Northwestern are reporting that adding a small amount of household bleach to the bathwater of children with moderate to severe eczema markedly improves the condition.

Jennifer Huang, Amy Paller and colleagues prescribed oral antibiotics to 31 patients who were between the ages of 6 months and 17 years and were afflicted by eczema that had been complicated by staphylococcal superinfection.

Half the patients were also instructed to bathe in a standard tub into which a half a cup of bleach had been added. These patients also received intranasal antibiotic ointment to eliminate bacterial colonization of that orifice.

Controls added an inert substance that looked and smelled like bleach to their baths, and applied an ointment containing fake antibiotics into their noses.

All subjects were instructed to bathe twice a week for 5-10 minutes.

The scientists saw so much improvement in the treatment group, they halted the study early and switched kids in the control group over to the bleach.

“The eczema kept getting better and better with the bleach baths, and these baths prevented it from flaring again,” Paller told BurrillReport. 

“We presume the bleach has antibacterial properties and decreased the number of bacteria on the skin, which is one of the drivers of flares,” added the Chariman of Pediatric Dermatology.
 
The write-up is in Pediatrics.

Fourteen percent of US teens are vitamin D deficient, according to a study by Sandy Saintonge and colleagues at Weill Cornell Medical College.

In kids, vitamin D deficiency can cause abnormal bone mineralization and rickets. In adults, it is associated with cancer, cardiovascular disease, immune deficiency, insulin resistance and hypertension.

Estimates for the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in the general population have been confounded by faulty measurement systems and a lack of expert consensus regarding optimal vitamin D levels.

In 2007, the 13th Workshop Consensus Group on Vitamin D made another pass at the latter, and ended up bumping the lower level of acceptable vitamin D levels by almost 50%.

That’s what prompted the current study.

The scientists obtained data from 2,955 participants between the ages of 12 and 19 that had been enrolled in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III. Using the old criteria, only 2% of the population would have been classified as Vitamin D deficient.

The write-up is in Pediatrics.

Alarmingly, more than half of African-American teens were found to be deficient in vitamin D. Overweight teens were twice as likely as those in the normal-weight group to be Vitamin D deficient.

Girls were twice as likely to be Vitamin D deficient as boys, a particular concern since the condition may increase maternal and fetal risks should any become pregnant.

“To meet minimum nutritional requirements teens need to consume at least 4 glasses of fortified milk daily or its dietary equivalent. Other foods rich in vitamin D include salmon, tuna, eggs and fortified cereals. A vitamin supplement containing 400 IU of vitamin D is another alternative,” said Saintonge, an assistant professor of pediatrics.

Third graders that got 15 minutes or more of recess per day had better classroom behavior than those who were continually holed up in school, according to a study in Pediatrics.

To reach this conclusion, Romina Barros and colleagues from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine examined the records of 11,000 children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999.

The scientists relied on teacher’s ratings of kids’ behavior.

Thirty percent of children in the study received no or minimal recess. These kids were more likely to be black, belong to a lower socioeconomic status, reside in the city and attend public school.

Even with these variables stewing in multivariate analysis, the beneficial association between recess and salutary classroom behavior remained significant.

Barros wants the word out. “Kids need that break because the brain needs that break,” she told the New York Times.

In fact, “recess should be part of the curriculum,” Barros emphasized. “You don’t punish a kid by having them miss math class, so kids shouldn’t be punished by not getting recess.”

Barros’ findings are consistent with recent studies of middle school students which revealed a direct relation between the number of fitness tests passed by children and their academic performance.

Another recent study of kids with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder showed that brief promenades improved attention and concentration as much as a slug of medication.

Scientists believe that people can concentrate on work, reading or exams for so only long before fatiguing.

Getting away from it all, even for short periods, appears to give aching brains time to reboot.

Teens that watch steamy TV shows are more likely than their peers to get pregnant or get someone pregnant.

That’s the conclusion of a 3-year observational study of TV viewing behavior in 700 sexually active adolescents between the ages of 12-17. Twenty-five percent of the teens in the cohort that watched the hot shows most frequently were involved in a pregnancy during the study period. Only 12% of those who rarely or never watched the shows were so involved.

Study investigators mentioned that “Friends,” “Sex and the City,” and “That ‘70s Show” made the list of 23 offending shows, but they declined to provide further details.

The study appears in this week’s Pediatrics. It builds on earlier studies linking pulpy TV viewing to early onset of sexual activity, and on studies linking explicit music videos to increased risk of sexually transmitted disease.

“We really need to encourage schools to make abstinence-centered programs a priority,” Valerie Huber told the Washington Post. Huber works with the National Abstinence Education Association.

But some insist school based abstinence programs don’t work. “The absolutely last thing we should do…is bury our heads in the sand and promote failed abstinence-only programs,” James Wagoner of Advocates for Youth responded to the Post.

Wagoner suggested “evidence-based sex education that helps young people delay sex and use prevention when they become sexually active.”

For their part, the investigators recommended that parents find out what their kids watch, discuss it with them, and make it clear there can be negative consequences of sexual activity such as pregnancy and STDs. They also called on TV programmers to include more realistic portrayals of the risks of sex.

Like that’s gonna’ happen. Meanwhile, it’s important to note the study does not prove that watching sexed-up TV shows causes teens to get pregnant, only that there is a correlation between the two.