Food poverty sparks return of Victorian scourges like rickets
Quote:
Dr Ellie Cannon, a GP in South Hampstead, posted a tweet revealing how doctors have to ask patients if they can afford to eat when they come to the surgery complaining of fatigue or unexplained illness.
It went viral and was addressed in a food poverty debate in the House of Commons. Now she has told how in recent years doctors have seen a resurgence in rickets — a disease usually caused by lack of vitamin D or calcium in a child’s diet. It causes bones to become soft and weak, and can lead to deformities as well as pain, fragile bones, tooth decay and poor growth.
|
Rickets was known as the English disease here.