Rickets

Rickets is a bone disorder in children. Bones need vitamin D, calcium, and phosphate to harden properly. When a child is short on one of them, the growing bones stay soft, which can cause bowed legs, delayed growth, bone pain, and problems with teeth. The UK's National Health Service explains that rickets is usually caused by not getting enough vitamin D or calcium, and that in adults the same softening of the bones is called osteomalacia.

Most cases come from diet or too little sunlight, and they are usually treated with vitamin D and calcium. Some forms are genetic and involve the body wasting phosphate through the kidneys. Low phosphate, called hypophosphatemia, can also be caused by some medicines.

Rickets and osteomalacia come up in consumer and drug cases in a few ways:

• Nutrition labeling. Parents rely on infant formula, milk alternatives, and vitamin products to deliver the vitamin D printed on the label. Lawsuits over supplements that contain less of a nutrient than claimed are a form of supplement mislabeling claim.
• Drug side effects. Some injury lawsuits have alleged that an intravenous iron product caused severe hypophosphatemia that led to osteomalacia and fractures in adults.
• Baby food and formula. Families already concerned about what is in children's food often search for this term alongside cases like toxic baby food.

A lawsuit needs more than a diagnosis. It usually requires showing a specific product caused or worsened the condition, which takes medical records and testing. This page is general information and not medical advice; talk with a pediatrician about vitamin D for your child.