This Could Happen To Your Bones

It’s the new menace, hollowing out our bones, playing with the quality of our life—and death. The hope, hype and horror of vitamin D deficiency.

- Damayanti Datta

Their bones are like butter. So soft that even a bit of pressure leaves a dent. So light that an awkward twist or a careless turn leads to a fall. So brittle that something as simple as bending forward snaps the spine. So porous that when metal screws are put in to fix a fracture, bones crumble like egg shells. That’s what orthopedicians at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi are talking about: patients with such abysmal levels of vitamin D in their blood and such acute bone decay that they make even veteran doctors weak in the knees.

Suddenly, vitamin D is everywhere. News paper headlines, television shows, Twitter trends, FM radio—all are trumpeting the message that we have a national deficit in D vitamin. The Indian Medical Association has started ‘Rise & Shine’, a D-deficiency awareness initiative for doc- tors. Deals and discounts for vitamin D tests are exploding at path labs. A Vitamin D Calculator app for iPhones and iPads has gone live. Home Blood Spot testing kits for vitamin D are being sold by online retailers.

On social media, the trending diet fad of the moment is ‘golden latte’—a frothy mix of turmeric, plant milk and vitamin D. And yesteryear rapper Baba Sehgal has returned to stardom with his wacky track: “Vitamin D, Vitamin D, Vitamin D...D...D...D...D...”

HOPE OF HYPE?