A Comparison of Calcium, Vitamin D, or Both for Nutritional Rickets in Nigerian Children

Nutritional rickets causes considerable disability among children. 1 Though virtually eliminated from Europe and North America by the fortification of foods with vitamin D, nutritional rickets remains prevalent in many parts of the world, including Africa, the Indian subcontinent, 2 Asia, 3 and the Middle East. 4 Rickets has been ranked among the five most prevalent diseases among children in developing countries. 5 Because there is ample sunlight in tropical countries, the cause of rickets in these areas remains an enigma. In Africa, rickets has been thought to result from inadequate endogenous production of vitamin D because of increased skin pigmentation or insufficient exposure to . . .