According to British doctors, children who are spending excessive amounts of time using the internet may be at risk for developing rickets due to vitamin D deficiency.

In a review in the latest issue of the British Medical Journal, Newcastle University researchers stated that as a younger generation spends more of its leisure time indoors, vitamin D levels drop, exposing the population to greater risk for the disease, and a rise in its occurrance, which had been all but ended in modern times. Not long ago, rickets was a condition associated with extreme poverty and starvation — not the affluence of the modern industrialized societies.

The authors of the study suggested "fresh air", adding new regulations to fortify milk products in the UK, and/or other dietary supplementation.

DSIB: Vitamin D

British Medical Journal: Diagnosis and management of vitamin D deficiency

BBC: Newcastle University experts want Vitamin D put in food

Guardian UK: Rickets warning from doctors as vitamin D deficiency widens

Times Online: TV and computer games blamed for return of rickets

Press Association: Rickets rise for inactive children