Low vitamin D concentrations found in study of Asian children was not function of analytical method

BMJ 1999;319:254 ( 24 July )

Letters

Low vitamin D concentrations found in study of Asian children was not function of analytical method

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EDITOR $---$ I would like to respond to the two letters¹ commenting on the short report that Thomas and I wrote on vitamin Dconcentrations in Asian children.² The diagnosis of ricketsin a white infant associated with the use of a potent sunscreenthat Zlotkin reports is interesting. The author quotes a studylinking use of sunscreen with suppression of synthesis of vitaminD₃, but a more recent study found no association between use ofsunscreen and vitamin D metabolism.³

We did not collect data on the use of sunscreen, although perhaps this should be considered for future studies on vitaminD. For both our Asian study and the national diet and nutritionalsurvey,⁴ serum 25-hydroxycholecalciferol concentration wasassayed with the same kit (which uses an equilibrium radioimmunoassayprocedure), although there were some minor methodological differencesbetween the two studies. To see whether these differences mightin part explain . . . [Full text of this article]