Washington, May 2 (IANS) Paediatricians have discovered a link between low levels of Vitamin D and anaemia in children.
Researchers from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center looked at data from the blood samples of more than 9,400 children, aged up to 18 years, to discern the link between haemoglobin and Vitamin D.
The lower the Vitamin D levels, the lower the haemoglobin and the higher the risk of anaemia, the researchers found, according to a Johns Hopkins statement.
Anaemia, which occurs when the body has too few oxygen-carrying red blood cells, is diagnosed and tracked by measuring haemoglobin levels.
Symptoms include fatigue, lightheadedness and low energy. Severe and prolonged anaemia can damage vital organs by depriving them of oxygen.
Children with levels below 20 nanogram per ml of blood had a 50 percent higher risk for anaemia than children with levels 20 nanograms per ml and above.
Only one percent of white children had anaemia, compared with nine percent of black children. Black children also had, on an average, much lower Vitamin D levels (18) than white children (27).
‘The striking difference between black and white children in Vitamin D levels and haemoglobin gives us an interesting clue that definitely calls for a further study,’ said lead investigator Meredith Atkinson, paediatric nephrologist at the Children’s Centre.
While the findings show a clear link between low Vitamin D levels and anaemia, they do not prove that Vitamin D deficiency causes anaemia, the investigators caution.
The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Paediatric Academic Societies in Denver, US.
