Down with this Dickensian disease

摘要

Was it rickets that ailed "Tiny Tim" Cratchit, the waif who stirred Scrooge's conscience in A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens's 1843 classic? His symptoms certainly fit with the disease. So does his milieu; rickets, caused by a lack of vitamin D, was rife among those who toiled from dawn to dusk in the dingy factories of Victorian Britain. Now, astonishingly, vitamin D deficiency is again becoming a significant health concern in rich countries (see page 6). Reversing this trend is not difficult, in principle. Just half an hour a day in the sun during summer lets our skin make enough vitamin D to last all year. Dietary supplements can help those who need a boost, such as pregnant women.