"HEALTH FOOD" DRINKS SPUR RICKETS REVIVAL.

• Position: Brief Article

The childhood ailment rickets--in which vitamin D and calcium deficiency leads to soft bones and poor growth--is making a surprising comeback, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Virtually eradicated by the 1960s, rickets seems to be on the rise because toddlers are not consuming adequate amounts of milk--the primary dietary source of calcium and vitamin D.

"In our [study], we found cases of young children who are suffering from undernutrition simply because their parents fed them soy- or rice-based beverages that did not contain vitamin D, instead of cow's milk," indicates Norman F. Carvalho, a pediatrician at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. "Rickets and other nutritional illnesses can be serious and may lead to potentially life-threatening complications."

In addition to soy- and rice-based beverages, pediatricians are concerned that children may be drinking excessive amounts of soft drinks, juice, and juice drinks in place of milk. These beverages don't contain the nutritional profile of cow's milk, yet they increasingly are being substituted for it. Even calcium-fortified juices and juice drinks don't contain vitamin D. "Soy and rice beverages may look like cow's milk, but these products may not contain the amount of calcium and vitamin D that's needed for proper growth and development," Carvalho maintains.

Rickets can result in stunted growth, delays in motor development, and bow legs in children. This nutritional disease was essentially eliminated in the U.S. decades ago following the fortification of milk with vitamin D.

According to Susan Baker, professor of pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Buffalo (N.Y.), it is typically "nutritional ignorance" in this country, rather than food deprivation, that leads to nutritional deficiency-caused ailments such as rickets. Because it was previously rare, many U.S. physicians may be unfamiliar...