--- title: Mum's vitamin and cod-liver oil — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Mum's vitamin and cod-liver oil», a lesson of the medicine course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A hundred years ago many city children had rickets: soft bones and bowed legs, because smoke hid the sun and their skin could not make vi --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Medicine](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/) / Mum's vitamin and cod-liver oil # Mum's vitamin and cod-liver oil Lesson 22 of the medicine course of Mova's primary school: 15 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/medicine/22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil/0/) — A hundred years ago many city children had rickets: soft bones and bowed legs, because smoke hid the sun and their skin could not make vitamin D, and a spoon of cod-liver oil really helped them. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil/1/) — Today most children who eat a varied diet get their vitamins from food, and a pill can't copy all the fibre, energy and thousands of helpful substances in real food: food first, pills second. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil/2/) — But some gaps are real: in the UK the winter sun is too weak to make vitamin D in the skin, so health advice says everyone should think about a daily vitamin D supplement from autumn to spring. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil/3/) — Adverts love words like «boost your immune system», but boost is a selling word, not science: a healthy immune system works well with good food, sleep and exercise. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil/5/) — UK advice is that children from 6 months to 5 years should have vitamins A, C and D, and everyone should consider 10 micrograms of vitamin D a day in autumn and winter. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil/6/) — In the UK, sunlight from about October to March is not strong enough for the skin to make vitamin D. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil/7/) — Rickets is a bone disease caused by lack of vitamin D, making bones soft and legs bowed; it was common in smoky cities and is still occasionally seen. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil/8/) — Cod-liver oil contains omega-3 fats and vitamins A and D, and was used in the past to prevent rickets. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil/9/) — Too much vitamin A can be harmful, so cod-liver oil should not be doubled up with other vitamin A supplements. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil/10/) — Studies of fish oil supplements in healthy children have not shown clear improvements in intelligence or school results. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil/11/) — Dietitians suggest eating oily fish, such as salmon or sardines, about once a week. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil/12/) — Gummy vitamins often contain sugar and look like sweets, so they must be kept out of reach and only the dose on the packet taken; if a small child eats a lot of them, call 111 or a doctor at once. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil/13/) — Very fussy eaters may miss some nutrients, so a doctor may suggest a multivitamin while the family widens the diet; fussy eating usually improves with age. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil/14/) — Taking lots of supplements does not usually help healthy children and can sometimes cause harm. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/22-mums-vitamin-and-cod-liver-oil/16/) — A multivitamin can't make up for a poor diet, because food gives fibre, energy and many substances a pill does not contain. - ← previous: [What vitamins do](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/21-what-vitamins-do/) - next →: [Sunshine, vitamin D and water](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/23-sunshine-vitamin-d-and-water/) - ↑ back to [Medicine](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/)