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Smilinturd t1_izi1m9y wrote

Only in severe cases where you develop rickets, and even then it might only show possible evidence. At that point you MAY see see early signs of arthritis and suffer from symptoms similar to arthritis and be more prone to fractures. Unfortunately there are many causes of this including but not limited to autoimmune conditions, thyroid/parathyroid conditions and bone cancer, so it is hard to go straight to malnutrition being the cause.

You could also be found to have reduced growth compared to your expected, eg height, weight. But there's also so many other factors dictating growth.

Malnutrition in childhood has been found to have higher rates of widespread conditions in adulthood including diabetes, heart disease and arthritis. Doesn't mean you will develop them but you would be at higher risk of it. And again the issue is that there's many factors causing those conditions as well.

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[deleted] t1_izilfit wrote

[deleted]

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Foxs-In-A-Trenchcoat OP t1_iziltfg wrote

I'm interested in hearing more about this. Do you have resources?

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Drpoofn t1_izjyrnj wrote

Nowadays, rickets is only an issue for breastfed babies. We can't produce vitamin D. Pediatricians recommend to keep baby out of the sun until six months. So they usually have to take a supplement until they start eating solids and spending 30 min or more outside. If you wear sunscreen, you don't get the vitamin D.

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DrizztD0urden t1_izkohz0 wrote

While I agree with most of this, I believe that it is recommended that people take vit d supplements daily at all ages, unless they spend the entire day outside. Naked. With no sunscreen (not recomended either though). Otherwise you can use more.

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Mlpaddict t1_iziyxia wrote

Rickets is not (just?) Calcium deficiency. It's vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D is the sunshine vitamin. In some northern countries the sun isn't strong enough for your body to make vitamin D all year round.

That's why commercially available milk tends to have vitamin D added to it.

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Arcticsnorkler t1_izjkfea wrote

I can attest. Grew up in the sub-Arctic and my vitamin D test = zero. Also super common to have low D in places where sunscreen use is common, like in Australia.

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daywalkker t1_izj05qy wrote

Your physiology still requires sunlight to activate the vitamin D. You can drink all the vitamin D fortified milk you want, but if you completely avoid sunlight, you will be deficient in the active form of vitamin D.

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PyroDesu t1_izjb20k wrote

Not true!

Sun (or more specifically, UV-B) exposure only generates the inactive cholecalciferol, the same stuff you can get from diet (diet can also give you ergocalciferol, the plant-based version, which works too). The activation process is two enzyme hydroxylation steps, first in the liver and second in the kidneys.

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Smilinturd t1_izj1w85 wrote

Can you differentiate calcium deficiencies in skeletons from malnutrition vs the effluxion of calcium in bones due to inappropriate pth release?

That's why I mentioned it would be hard to solely diagnose childhood malnutrition on xrays.

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