(p. A15) Rickets is one of those diseases that seem incredibly old-fashioned. It’s difficult to comprehend, now, how widespread this bone ailment once was: In some cities less than a century ago, 90% of children showed symptoms of rickets during wintertime. But ubiquity has its benefits. In “Starved for Light,” Christian Warren convincingly argues that modern medicine would be unrecognizable without the many advances in treatment that trace their roots to this once-widespread disease.
Rickets results from a lack of vitamin D, which we need to help shuttle calcium and phosphorus into our bones. Our bodies manufacture vitamin D whenever ultraviolet sunlight hits our skin; we can also get it through food. A deficiency in vitamin D causes the softening and bending of bones characteristic of rickets; victims are often left bowlegged or knock-kneed, or with curved spines or misshapen pelvises. The worst cases leave babies unable to crawl or even sit up straight.
. . .
Given how disgusting cod-liver oil tastes, some countries began combating rickets by adding vitamin D to milk in the 1930s—an odd choice, since milk contains no vitamin D naturally. (Amusingly, Mr. Warren calls the practice an “in uddero” health intervention.) The choice seems even odder, the author wryly notes, when there’s a much simpler solution to preventing rickets: going outside for a few minutes. Instead, we’ve effectively turned “a dairy product into a drug-delivery device,” severing the ancient interplay between “sun, skin, and bone.”
For the full review see:
Sam Kean. “Bookshelf; A Disease Of Deficiency.” The Wall Street Journal (Monday, Dec. 9, 2024): A15.
(Note: ellipsis added.)
(Note: the online version of the review has the date December 8, 2024, and has the title “Bookshelf; ‘Starved for Light’: A Disease of Deficiency.”)
The book under review is:
Warren, Christian. Starved for Light: The Long Shadow of Rickets and Vitamin D Deficiency. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2024.