Teeth from as far back as 1200s show signs of vitamin D deficiency: McMaster
Posted Jul 19, 2016 1:14 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton have seen the telltale signs of vitamin D deficiency in teeth they extracted from four French women and two Quebec residents who died hundreds of years ago.
Lori D’Ortenzio, a PhD candidate in anthropology, says that unlike bones, teeth store a permanent record of microscopic abnormalities in layers of dentin, beneath the enamel, akin to the rings of a tree.
She and her colleagues analyzed a total of 12 teeth from four women who were buried in a French cemetery between 1225 and 1798, along with a child and a man who died in rural Quebec between 1771 and 1860.
The researchers found that all the subjects had vitamin D deficiency, or rickets, which is a weakening of the bones caused by an extreme lack of vitamin D.
The study led by D’Ortenzio has been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
Vitamin D deficiency can be detected with a blood test and most cases are caused by a lack of sun exposure, but some health conditions also lead to rickets, which can result in bone deformities.
