Is dietary deficiency of calcium a factor in rickets? Use of current evidence for our understanding of the disease in the past

OBJECTIVE: Rickets is considered an indicator of vitamin D deficiency in palaeopathology, but a strand of biomedical thought maintains that dietary calcium deficiency may sometimes play a part in its causation. Our aim is to evaluate the extent to which low calcium intake should be considered as a factor in biocultural interpretations of rickets. METHODS: We assess published modern epidemiological studies that provide primary data to support …