Vitamin D assist

I watched the Haitian orphans deplaning on TV last week with tears of joy that the incredible McMutrie sisters brought these kids to Pittsburgh ("Safe After Flight, 53 Haitian Children Enter Pittsburgh and a World Beyond," Jan. 20). As I looked outside at a typical Pittsburgh gray day, I worried about how the Haitian infants and babies could thrive without the daily doses of sunlight to store the vitamin D their immune systems need to survive.

Somali immigrants living in Sweden and Minnesota, whose weather has little sun, just like Pittsburgh, show extremely high rates of autism. Scientific American wrote about this phenomenon last April.

I beg the medical professionals treating these children and families adopting them to strongly consider supplementing their diets with at least 1,000 units a day as a preventative measure. The small amounts available in enriched orange juice and milk are simply not adequate for these children. Given all they have been through, let's now think prevention!

 

PATRICIA S. LEMER
Executive Director
Developmental Delay Resources
Shadyside