MAY 7, 2009 — Canada’s largest newspaper reported this week that 80 percent of Canadian children aren’t getting enough vitamin D and that “what many researchers would like to see is children maintaining the same levels of vitamin D that they would get from modest, summer sun exposure, year round.”

Someone is finally doing the math — it’s called “the Sunshine Vitamin” for a reason.

“The first Canadian study to investigate vitamin D levels in toddlers has found that more than 80 per cent of the children tested didn’t have enough of the sunshine vitamin and nearly a third had such low amounts that doctors classified them as deficient,” Toronto Globe and Mail health reporter Martin Middlestaedt wrote in a May 4 story.

The story examined a study conducted by Dr. Jonathon Maguire, a researcher at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children. Maguire presented his findings this week at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies in Baltimore.

The subject of how sun avoidance is harming women and children will be explored at length at Smart Tan’s 2009 Annual Convention and Trade Show, Oct. 9-11 in Downtown Nashville — a new venue for an industry-changing event. Registration information and event details will be released soon.

To read the Globe and Mail story click here.