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This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) An erratum has been published All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2006.091736v1 97/10/1746    most recent Submit a response Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Rajakumar, K. Articles by Holick, M. F. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Rajakumar, K. Articles by Holick, M. F. Related Collections Other Child and Adolescent Health Nutrition/Food Prevention Public Health Practice African Americans/Blacks

Kumaravel Rajakumar, MD, Susan L. Greenspan, MD, Stephen B. Thomas, PhD and Michael F. Holick, MD, PhD

Kumaravel Rajakumar is with the Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pa. Susan L. Greenspan is with the Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh. Stephen B. Thomas is with the Center for Minority Health, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh. Michael F. Holick is with the Department of Medicine, Physiology and Biophysics, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Mass.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Kumaravel Rajakumar, MD, General Academic Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, 3705 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (e-mail: kumaravel.rajakumar{at}chp.edu).

Rickets, the state of vitamin D deficiency, has reemerged as a potential problem in the United States. At the dawn of the 20th century, rickets was pervasive among infants residing in the polluted cities of Europe and the northeastern United States.

Important milestones in the history of rickets were the understanding that photosynthesized vitamin D and dietary vitamin D were similar, the discernment of the antirachitic potency of artificial and natural ultraviolet rays, and the discovery that ultraviolet irradiation could render various foods antirachitic. Clinical guidelines were instituted to promote sensible exposure to sunlight and artificial ultraviolet radiation.

In addition, irradiated ergosterol from yeast became the major vitamin D source for food fortification and the treatment of rickets, leading to a public health campaign to eradicate rickets by the 1930s. We review the sequence and turn of events pertaining to the discovery of vitamin D and the strategies for the eradication of the reemerging rickets problem.