Go Outside and Prevent Vitamin D Deficiency

It's big news. As reported in the Washington Post on Monday, the first national studies done on vitamin D in youth show alarming results. Overall the lack of vitamin D is linked to heart disease, diabetes and other ailments. According to Rob Stein at the Washington Post, "About 9 percent of those ages 1 through 21 -- about 7.6 million children, adolescents and young adults -- have Vitamin D levels so low they could be considered deficient, while an additional 61 percent -- 50.8 million -- have higher levels, but still low enough to be insufficient, according to the analysis of federal data being released Monday."

What is the cause? Among other things researchers referenced the amount of time children spend indoors watching TV and playing video games. If weight issues weren't reason enough to boot your kids out the door to play, now there is this on top of it.

More research is planned to understand the role of vitamin D plays in children's health. If nothing else, it is a reminder that outdoor play is essential for a healthy childhood. Let's all work together to prevent vitamin D deficiency by making the commitment to take the kids outside every day!

Here are some links to some other posts of mine that offer ideas for outdoor activities:
1. Summer days
2. Flower power
3. Make mud pies
4. Hiking

Please add your favorite outside activities to my comments. Once I have a good number of ideas I would like to develop a survey that will poll my readers on what the 10 top outdoor activities are for children. Thanks in advance for your input!

Tags: vitamin D vitamin D deficiency, indoors, television watching, video games, outside