Kids lack vitamin D

Many adolescents living in American cities have low levels of vitamin D, which is crucial for calcium absorption and bone growth.

Researchers found that 24 percent are 'severely deficient" and 42 percent are "vitamin D insufficient."

Vitamin D deficiency "is highest in African-American teenagers and during winter, although the problem seems to be common across sex, season and ethnicity," wrote the study authors.

The research appears in the June 2004 issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

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