Rickets

Rickets is a condition that affects bone development in children. It causes bone pain, poor growth and soft, weak bones that can lead to bone deformities. Adults can experience a similar condition, which is known as osteomalacia. The most common cause of rickets is a vitamin D deficiency, which can result from eating a diet without enough vitamin D, or too little sun exposure. Rarer hereditary genetic forms of the disease also exist.

Whilst Rickets can still a problem today, it was much more prevalent in the past. The disease was described in the mid-17th century. Then, during the 18th and 19th centuries, rickets became increasingly common in the growing urban areas of industrialized nations. Rickets remained widespread until the fortification of milk and other foods with Vitamin D and calcium, which was introduced in the 1940s, during the Second World War, in Britain and North America. From the 1940s to 1960s, it was common for children to be treated with artificially generated ultra-violet rays ('Sunray' therapy) to prevent rickets.