Evelyn asks about rickets and Vit. D supplements to babies here.
The state council on nutrition recommends that every human being in Norway
take pharmaceutical grade cod liver oil, one teaspoon daily, from about 5
weeks until their dying day.  Not everyone does this, however.  Parents are
advised to give a multivitamin supplement containing both A and D if they
won't give cod liver oil.
There have been more cases of rickets in recent years, occurring in
immigrant children with darker skin and a tradition of more covering of the
body and less going for walks in the great out-of-doors than the Norwegian
norm. It is cause for concern even though the actual number of cases is very
low, a handful every year as far as I know.  Most of these children live in
our 'gigantic' capital city Oslo with half a million residents, where one
has to make slightly more of an effort to get to somewhere enticing to be
outside in, and many of the immigrants live in the inner city area, though
as cities go it is one of the best equipped with green oases.  Judging by
our increasing reliance on cars rather than walking, and gyms rather than
hiking/running/doing outdoor sports, we may be in for an increase in
rickets, but Norwegian kids normally spend time outside every day.  A
daycare can not be approved without adequate outdoor space and unless the
temperature is under 10 below zero Celsius, they must be outside for at
least an hour every day.
I am not aware that there have been any cases of rickets in ethnic Norwegian
children.
Before anyone asks, check your atlas, and you will see that at our
latitudes, sunlight exposure doesn't carry the same risk of skin injury that
it does in more southerly climes.  I bet more sunscreen is sold here than
most anywhere else.  Children, at least, are well protected.  It's the
adults who go to solariums and overdo it on holidays to Spain, Portugal,
Greece, and points south!
Rachel Myr
wishing she'd invested in the cod liver oil industry ages ago in
Kristiansand, Norway

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