Rickets

Rickets, while now a rare disease, can result in weak and pliable bones. The primary cause of rickets is vitamin D deficiency. In the past, the disease mainly afflicted children who weren't getting proper nutrition or sunlight. Rickets can lead to bone deformity, like bowed legs. This disease is still a concern for those with a poor diet or elderly people not getting enough vitamin D.

Recently Answered

QHow is rickets and vitamin D associated?

1 Answer

A

A Joan Salge Blake, MS, RD , Nutrition & Dietetics, answered on behalf of Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

Rickets is a vitamin D deficiency disease that occurs in children. The bones of children with rickets aren’t adequately mineralized with calcium and phosphorus, which causes them to weaken. Because of their “soft bones,” these children develop bowed legs, since they are unable to hold up their own body weight when they are standing upright.
Both vitamin D and calcium are needed for bone health.