Over 70 percent of seemingly healthy teenage girls may be vitamin D deficient, says a British study, and are at increased risk of osteoporosis and other health problems later in life.
Such results may lead to recommendations in certain countries of vitamin D supplementation for adolescents to help reduce the risk of osteoporosis.
"Vitamin D deficiency during childhood and adolescence might impair the acquisition of peak bone mass at the end of skeletal growth and maturation, thereby increasing the risk of osteoporotic fracture in later life," explained the researchers from Saint Mary's Hospital for Women and Children in Manchester.
Potential reduction of osteoporosis, a disease that affects over 75 million people in Europe, the USA and Japan, has traditionally been a two-pronged approach by either attempting to boost bone density in high-risk post-menopausal women by improved diet or supplements, or by maximising the build-up of bone during the highly important pubescent years.