A study at a Queens hospital has found that children are not getting sufficient vitamin D in their diets. NY1's Health & Fitness reporter Kafi Drexel filed the following report on what parents can do to change that.

Taking vitamin D supplements has become an essential part of seventh-grader Dominique Sermon's diet. With close to zero levels in her system about a year ago, now she's taking a dose of 50,000 international units a month. That's equal to four to five times the recommended daily amount so she can get her levels back up.

"The healthier my body is, meaning getting my vitamin D in, the healthier my body is, the easier it may be to lose weight or to help myself," she says.

In a national study conducted by doctors at New York Hospital Queens, they found that 14 percent of children in general are vitamin D deficient. For the black population, the deficiency is even greater, with 50 percent of teens affected.

Vitamin D deficiency can contribute to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, immune dysfunction and poor bone health.

"In black teens, we worry even more, because there is a high prevalence of obesity," says Dr. Sandy Saintonge of New York Hospital Queens. "There are many risk factors for diabetes, and cardiovascular disease and hypertension in this group as well. So vitamin D may actually be the answer to solving a lot of these problems.

Recognizing the importance of including vitamin D in young people's diets, doctors at the hospital have been working to educate families about how they can get their kids to take in more.

"This includes fortified milk, fortified orange juice, fortified cereals, salmon, fish, tuna fish, eggs," Saintonge says. "These are all the foods that are high in vitamin D. That being said, numerous children aren't able to consume the appropriate quantities of these foods in order to maintain the right levels, so we may also recommend a vitamin D supplement."

Doctors at the hospital are also concerned about lack of vitamin D in overweight kids because obese individuals are especially prone to deficiencies. To help with that, Sermon's been part of the hospital's "Fit Kids" program.

"With the program that I run, dealing with a lot of overweight and obese children, you tend to think, 'oh they have over-nutrition,' but they don't really have over-nutrition; they're getting more calories than they need, but they're not getting the right nutrients that they need," explains Dr. Antony Porto of New York Hospital Queens.

Vitamin D is only part of the puzzle. But even Dominique's grandmother, Marylin Sermon, has noticed that boosting her intake has had an impact on the teen.

"Since she's been taking the D, she's not as tired, because before I think she was a little bit more tired than she is now," says her grandmother. "And, also, just her outlook that she knows the things that she should eat.

Doctors at New York Hospital Queens say a simple blood test is needed to diagnose a vitamin D deficiency.