Deficient diets to blame for rise in childhood scurvy

Published on Saturday 7 November 2009 19:02

SCURVY, once the scourge of the sailors in the age of sail, is increasing among British schoolchildren.

In 2004-5, 61 children were admitted to hospital with scurvy in England. But by 2007-8 the figure had risen to 94, a rise of more than 50 per cent in the past three years.

The condition results from a deficiency of vitamin C, usually through a lack of fresh fruit and vegetables in their diet.

The debilitating disease was common in the 17th century among sailors deprived of fresh food during long months at sea. It was eventually eradicated by providing fresh lemons and limes.

Symptoms include spots, cracked and bleeding lips, nostrils and ears, and the loss of teeth. In extreme cases, it leads to internal bleeding and death.

Stephen O'Brien, the Conservative health spokesman, who obtained the figures through a parliamentary question, said: "It is shocking that this disease of 17th-century pirates is on the rise again in 21st-century Britain."

The Department of Health said its five-a-day campaign and Healthy Start, which offers free vitamins, was meant to tackle the problem. Ursula Arens, of the British Dietetic Association, said: "There may be children living on bread and jam because of poverty."