Overview Autism and vitamin D

• FACT: Studies have shown an association of autism with many factors
• FACT: Clinical trials are underway testing if supplementing with vitamin D will decrease autism
• UNCERTAIN: Vitamin D help prevent autism before and after birth
• OPINION: Vitamin D will be proved to both PREVENT and TREAT Autism
• RECOMMENDATION: Take extra vitamin D when pregnant
  !There is a tiny risk in taking vitamin D, but a major risk in not doing so if you already have an autistic child

US explosion of Autism

chart is adapted from from http://autisminnb.blogspot.com/2011/01/autism-speaks-cdc-autism-prevalence.html
CDC update: 1 in 88 as of 2008 Reported March 2012
This is a 78 % increase in (2003-2008) for ALL children
110% increase for Hispanics, and 91% increase for black children (2003-2008) (dark skin strongly points to vitamin D)
CDC PDF of 2008 study which was finally published in 2012 is attached to the bottom of this page

1 child in 68 CDC March 2014
An increase of about 30% from 2008 to 2010, which is also an 120% increase in decade since 2000/2002

Autism prevalence

Recent Autism items by Dr. Cannell of the Vitamin D Council

• Autism decreased in 8 out of 10 children supplemented with vitamin D – April 2015 Cannell was a co-author
• Autism and Vitamin D - Dr. Cannell in Life Extension Mag - Jan 2014
  50 IU of vitamin D / pound, with a goal of 80 ng/ml. Also, vitamin K2 3 mg/lb, best results before age 8
• Dr. Cannell on Autism – Spring 2013 videos - also mentions nice results of accidentally getting 10X too much vitamin D
• No noticeable decrease in Autism in child with high level of vitamin D – July 2012 Dr. Cannell
• Is inflammation during pregnancy linked to autism? Grant and Cannell March 2013
• Autism treated by Vitamin D: Dr. Cannell - video June 2013 which includes reasons why Dr. Cannell believes Autism is related to Vitamin D (summarized by VitaminDWiki)

1. Both have strong inheritance features – Vitamin D about 60%
2. Both have gotten substantially worse in last 30 years
3. Vitamin D is known to be involved in brain development
4. All autistic children are vitamin D deficient, but not all children who are deficient are autistic: since genes are involved as well
5. When giving vitamin D to cure children of rickets “mental dullness” decreases as well
6. Children with genes which give them too much (Williams Syndrome) have to reverse of autism – too sociable
7. Mothers having lots of fish (and thus more vitamin D) give birth to kids with less autistic symptoms
8. Both associated with weak bones
9. Both worse around the age of weaning
10. Autism is more common in rich families – more likely to apply sun screen and stay indoors
11. Autism increases with drugs which lower levels of vitamin D
12. Seizures are common with Autism - Vitamin D has been shown to reduce seizures
13. Fewer autistic symptoms (such as sleep problems) during summer: when child gets more vitamin D from the sun
14. Both worse with latitude
15. Both vary with Ultraviolet light
16. Both vary with time of year (more birth of autistics in March in Northern hemisphere)
17. 2X more urban autism – less UVB in urban environments
18. Both worse with pollution
19. Both worse with increased clouds and rain
20. Both worse with closely spaced pregnancies
21. Autistics have abnormal immune response – similar to that of vitamin D deficiency
22. Low levels of vitamin D in mother animals reduces brain function in offspring
23. Vitamin deficient rat pups have similar brain abnormalities to that of human autistic children
24. Autistic children get less vitamin D in their blood for the same amount of sun exposure
25. The 4 males/1 female autism ratio can be explain by the observation that estrogen increases vitamin D in the brain (testosterone does not)
26. Both worse in African Americans (A-A 2-3 increased autism rate)
27. Both worse in Dark-skinned immigrants in Europe

• Study out of China finds correlation between vitamin D status and autism severity Vitamin D Council Oct 2013
  Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in Chinese children with autism spectrum disorders. - Oct 2013
• Autism and Vitamin D - by John Cannell, MD Life Extension Jan 2014
• Autism Causes, Prevention and Treatment: Vitamin D Deficiency etc. – Book April 2015

Scientific American "What If Vitamin D Deficiency Is a Cause of Autism?" April 2009

• 3X higher autism in those Somali people living far from Equator
• mentions a 2007 study of 20 other studies of human and animals which found that vitamin D deficiency was associated with Autism
• discussion of Scientific American Article
• Discussion by MedicalNews Today

tp://www.vitamindwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page_id=633|Autism update by vitamin D council - June 2010] response to Scientific American article

See also in VitaminDwiki

• All articles in Autism category 57 items
• Autism 3X more likely after closely spaced pregnancy vs 3 year apart– Jan 2011
• Prenatal vitamins – including vitamin D – reduced autism by 7X in some cases – May 2011
• Reasons that vitamin D epidemic in the past 40 years the same period of time that Autism has increased
• Early lack of vitamin D may trigger autism – Clinical Review April 2012
• 2X more poor language skills associated with low vitamin D during pregnancy – Feb 2012
• Less able to switch attention (an autism test) if mother had low vitamin D – Oct 2012
• Autism and schizophrenia strongly associated in families in Sweden July 2012
  Example: Schizophrenia increases risk of Autism 2.9X (both are strongly associated with low vitamin D)
• Serotonin regulated by Vitamin D – part 1 autism – Feb 2014
• Ebook on Autism and Vitamin D

---

A testing company's view of nutrients associated with autism

---

Is Autism a Vitamin D-Deficiency Disorder?

by Marc Sorenson EdD (PhD in Education) http://www.vitaminddoc.com/d3autism.html

Autism is increasing exponentially (see graph below) and is related to vitamin D deficiency.

As I have pointed out in my book, both children and adults with autism typically show difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication, social interactions, and leisure or play activities.¹
The cost of autism is about $35 billion annually, and the societal cost for each case is about $3.2 million.²
The most alarming increase in autism is observed over the past few decades, and its incidence is currently growing at the rate of 10-17% per year.39
Dr. John Cannell wrote a compelling paper on how autism could be caused, at least in part, by lack of vitamin D during brain development.[3]
Much of this post discusses his primary arguments.
Cannell points out that in 1989, about the time autism began its most rapid increase in incidence, the American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs first warned of the perceived dangers of sun exposure and advised keeping infants out of the sun as much as possible.[4]
In 1999, when autism risk began to really skyrocket, the American Academy of Pediatrics advised to keep infants out of direct sunlight and to make sure activities minimized sun exposure.[5]
In 2002 the Centers for Disease Control reported that the efforts had been quite successful.5 It is quite possible that the result of all of this "protection" has been an increase in autism, since the increase in the incidence of autism has closely paralleled the increase in "sunscare efforts."
Vitamin D is absolutely essential for brain development[6] [7] and that children are deficient because of sun "protection" measures that lower vitamin D levels.
My opinion is that this is the major reason for the surge in the rate of autism. Here are more of Dr. Cannell's autism/vitamin D-deficiency links:
Both autism and vitamin D deficiency are associated with abnormally high inflammation.[8] [9]
Low consumption of vitamin D-rich seafood in pregnant women correlates to increased risk of their children's low verbal IQ's, poorer social performance, communication and motor skills.[10] [11]
Dark-skinned people are far more likely to be vitamin D deficient because they require more sun exposure to produce it.
If the theory is correct, the rate of autism among black children would be higher than that among white children due to maternal vitamin D deficiency and fetal insufficiency that would influence brain development. This is exactly the case; children of mothers who have emigrated from Uganda to Sweden, for example, have an autism rate of 15%, which is 200 times that of the general population.[12]

Far less sunlight is available in Sweden than Uganda, and the season available for vitamin D production is much shorter in Sweden.
This puts the Ugandan women at a severe disadvantage in producing enough vitamin D for the developing fetus.
There is a close correlation between latitude and autism among countries; the higher the latitude, the higher the rate of autism.[13]
High-latitude countries have higher rates of vitamin D deficiency due to a shorter season in which UVB is available to stimulate its production in the skin.
The same relationship of latitude to autism exists within the states of the USA, with northern states having higher rates of autism.[14] [15]
In winter, when vitamin D production is low, birth rates of autistic children peak.[16]

Rickets and autism show similar urban/rural distribution rates.

Rickets is an accepted vitamin D-deficiency disease, and urban children have significantly higher rates of both diseases.[17]
Pregnant rural women and their children tend to be outside in the sunshine more their urban counterparts, and in urban settings, more air pollution blocks out UVB light, the wave length that stimulates vitamin D production; poor air quality is directly correlated with autism[18] and with profoundly lower serum levels of vitamin D.[19]
It is also interesting to note that the Amish of Pennsylvania mostly rural farmers have extremely low rates of autism.[20]
According to Dr. Heng Wang, who treats Amish people in rural Ohio, their rate of autism is 1 in 1,500, compared to 1 in 166 nationally.[21]

Finally, where precipitation rates are high, rates of autism are also high,[22] [23] suggesting a link with sunlight deprivation.
Cloudy, rainy weather blocks the UVB light necessary to produce vitamin D.
The argument that autism is a vitamin D-deficiency disorder is compelling, but until the theory is proven, it would certainly be prudent to assure that pregnant women and young children maintain optimal levels of vitamin D.
There is no downside, and the potential to halt an unnecessary disease that is devastating to youngsters, their parents and society.

{foot note area}
[3] Cannell, J. Autism and vitamin D. Med hypothesis Oct 24, 2007. Epub ahead of print
[4] JAMA 1989;262:380-84. No authors listed
[5] Cannell, J. Vitamin D newsletter, May 2007.
[6] Eyles, D. et al. Vitamin D3 and brain development. Neuroscience 2003;118:641-53.
[7] McGrath, J. et al. Vitamin D3-implications for brain development J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 2004;89-90:557-60.
[8] Ashwood, P. et al. The immune response in autism: a new frontier for autism research. J Leukoc Biol 2006;80:1-15.
[9] Cantorna, M. . Vitamin D status, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, and the immune system. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Dec;80:1717S-20S.
[10] Cantorna, M. . Vitamin D status, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, and the immune system. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Dec;80:1717S-20S.
[11] Hibbeln, J. et al. Maternal seafood consumption in pregnancy and neurodevelopmental outcomes in childhood (ALSPAC study): an observational cohort study. Lancet. 2007 Feb 17;369(9561):578-85.
[12] Gillberg, C. Et al. Autism in immigrants: children born in Sweden to mothers born in Uganda. J Intellect Disabil Res. 1995;39:141-4.
[13] Grant, W. Epidemiological evidence for supporting the role of maternal vitamin D deficiency as a significant risk factor for the development of infantile autism in those born prior to 1985. Unpublished manuscript.
[14] McNally, R. et al. An infectious aetiology for childhood brain tumors? Evidence from space-time clustering and seasonality analyses. Br J Cancer 2002;86:1070-77.
[15] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prevalence of autism spectrum disorders-autism and developmental disabilities monitoring network, 14 sites, United States, 2002. MMWR Surveill Summ 2007;56:12-28.
[16] Stevens, M. Season of birth effects in autism. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 2000;22:399-407.
[17] Williams, J. et al. Systematic review of prevalence studies of autism spectrum disorders. Arch Dis Child 2006;91:8-15.
[18] Windham, M. et al. Autism spectrum disorders in relation to hazardous air pollutants in the San Francisco Bay area. Environ Health Perspect 2006;114:1438-44.
[19] Agarwal, K. et al. The impact of atmospheric pollution on vitamin D status of infants and toddlers in Delhi, India. Arch Dis Child. 2002;87:111-13.
[20] Waldman M, et al. Does television cause autism? National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 12632, 2006.
  http://www.econ.cudenver.edu/mocan/data%20for%20courses/Autism%5B1%5D.w12632.pdf (accessed Feb 2, 2008.).
[21]Wang, H. Quoted by Dan Olmsted in The Age of Autism: One in 15,000 Amish. UPI June 8, 2005.
  Available online at http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2005/06/18948.php.
[22] Waldman M, et al. Does television cause autism? National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 12632, 2006.
  http://www.econ.cudenver.edu/mocan/data%20for%20courses/Autism%5B1%5D.w12632.pdf (accessed Feb 2, 2008.).
[23] Waldman,M. Autism prevalence and precipitation rates in California, Oregon, and Washington counties. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2008 Nov;162(11):1026-34

---

See also on the web

• Top 10 Things You Must Know About the Autism/Vaccination Question GreenMedInfo Aug 2015
  Many people are not anti-vax, but just anti-unsafe vax
• Dr. Seneff publications many on interactions of roundup on Autism
• Vitamin D and autism: clinical review Sept 2012, the study is behind a paywall
• Autism diagnoses on the rise, study finds LA Times March 2013
  Now 2%, has been just 1.2% back in 2007; Boys 6 to 17 now 3.2%, had been 1.8% in 2007 (Data from National Survey of Children's Health)
• An Immune Disorder at the Root of Autism - New York Times Aug 2012
  immune dysregulation in the womb. Lists many viral and other problems during pregnancy which increase probability of autistic child by 2X to 5X
  Moises Velasquez-Manoff is the author of “An Epidemic of Absence: A New Way of Understanding Allergies and Autoimmune Diseases.”
• Annual cost of autism has more than tripled - $126 billion US MedExpress March 2012
  3X increase since 2006. Costs were based on 0.5% of population having ASD, however, CDC now reports 0.9% of population has ASD
• Disease Database has lots of links to Autism
• PubMed Autism >17,000 items March 2011
• PubMed Autism and "Vitamin D" 46 studies as of March 2013
  • Example: Autism spectrum disorders following in utero exposure to antiepileptic drugs- letter to editor - Sept 2009
  • Example: Epidemiologic evidence supporting the role of maternal vitamin D deficiency as a risk factor for the development of infantile autism full text online
• Cinical trial for Autism Feb 2012 trying up to 10,000 IU vitamin D for 3-8 year old Autistic children
• New Scientist June 2011
  • 2X to 4X more children with Autism in Dutch cities which have lots of IT jobs - perhaps those kids to not get out in sunshine as much
  • 12X increase in ASD in California in 20 years (since 1987)
• Epidemiology - July 2011
  Reduced chance of having autistic child by 40% by having pre-natal vitamins (most have just 400 IU of vitamin D, some have 800 IU)
  For certain gene types of the mother, the risk reduction due to taking pre-natal vitamins was 2.6X, 4.5X, and 7.2X
• New York Times July 2011 report on a new study of autistic twins
  Autism was due to shared environmental factors 58 % of the time.
• Vitamin D council discussion of this health condition
• Blog reviewing Autism and air pollution articles in late 2012 Vitamin D Council April 2013, behind a $5/month paywall
• Estimated Autism Recurrence Rate Goes Up MedPage Today Aug 2011
  ASD recurrence in family which already had an ASD child: rate was 18.7%
• Long interesting blog post on Rickets, Vitamin D deficiency and Autism Feb 2012
• Etiopathogenesis of autism spectrum disorders: Fitting the pieces of the puzzle together Medical Hypothesis, July 2013
  We suggest that ASD are disorders of the immune system that occur in a very early phase of embryonic development.
  In a background of genetic predisposition and environmental predisposition (probably vitamin D deficiency), an infection (notably a viral infection) could trigger , , ,
• ADHD Drug Emergencies Quadrupled in 6 Years Mercola Aug 2013
  Omega-3 reduces ADHD, Increased with Gut problems, Sugar,
• Mercola on Possible causes of Autism - April 2012
  Electromagnetic fields, Mercury toxicity, Vaccines, Phthalates, Vitamin D Deficiency, and gut flora
  CDC: report in March 2012 of a 2008 study 1 in 88 children in the U.S. in 2008 were diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder
  a 23 % increase in the last two years and 78 % in (2003-2008) for all children
  110% increase for Hispanics, and 91% increase for black children (2003-2008) (this strongly points to vitamin D)
  Chart of ASD intelligence in 2008 study by CDC - varies a lot around the nation

• Autism on TedTalk March 2014
  good background, nothing about vitamin D, following chart shows the 200-400 genes assocaited with different forms of autism

• Solving the Autism Puzzle Jan 2015 MIT Tech Review
  Nothing about vitamin D nor any way to prevent/treat Autism
  300 potential genes, 27 give heightened risk of autism. Autistics with the same gene have similar symptoms.
  Every child born has roughly 60 new changes in their DNA sequence, and [one in] every 50 children born have at least one large rearrangement.
• Broccoli Sprout Extract (Sulforaphane) reduces symptoms of Autism RCT Aug 2015 (nothing about vitamin D)
  sulforaphane increases Vitamin D gene expression 2010

Autism is one of many health problems that has increased by 2X or more in a decade

Criteria to associate a disease with the lack of vitamin D

Same inflammation in brain in half of the autistics, but different causes – May 2011

---

HYPOTHESIS Folate ==> reduced miscarriage ==> increased autism

Has enhanced folate status during pregnancy altered natural selection and possibly Autism prevalence? A closer look at a possible link 2008
Is excess folic acid supplementation a risk factor for autism? 2011
   small study found 1 mg of Folic Acid was associated with 13% increase in Autism
Some, but not complete, reassurance on the safety of folic acid fortification 2010 full text on-line
Vitamin D and Folate fortification of foods

---

Around the world

Denmark

US House Testimony June 2011

“ASD transcends geographic, economic and cultural boundaries,”
Shih said. “Current scientific consensus is that 67 million people, or about 1 % of the world’s population is affected with some form of ASD—a prevalence that is higher than AIDS, diabetes, and cancer combined.
While there is currently no known medical cure for autism, behavioral treatment programs can be quite effective, particularly when the diagnosis is made early and subsequent interventions are begun.”
Significant in Northern Ireland (low vitamin D), and Africa

---

Out of Africa 2008

Autism happening in elite families in Africa (those which can afford air conditioning, gmo foods, and antibiotics)
High autism rates in African immigrants: Sweden, Minnesota (where there is much less sunshine)

Autism Infographic April 2013

Move your cursor over it to see it
Too large to display each time that this page is shown

Autism and air pollution (no mention of Vitamin D) June 2013

PDF is attached at the bottom of this page

Clinical Review of Autism and Vitamin D 2012 - excellent

CLICK HERE if registered (free) for VitaminDWiki

ADHD strongly assocated with Magnesium deficiency

Minerals imbalances influence learning disorders Natural Health 365
84% of kids with ADHD had significantly lower levels of iron compared to only 18% of control group

Autism is associated with lack of pruning in the brain - Aug 2014

Pruning Process May Go Awry in Brains of Children With Autism NY Times
the word vitamin does does not occur once in the study which is attached at the bottom of this page

However, a Oct 2011 study associated Autism with TOO MUCH pruning -full text online
Underconnected, but how? A survey of functional connectivity MRI studies in autism spectrum disorders.

Autism associated with low gut flora (due to antibiotics) – Mercola Oct 2014

Screening Every Child for Autism New York Times Sept 2015

By professor of pediatrics, nothing about vitamin D
Issues answered

1. Is the condition prevalent and severe enough to warrant screening?
2. Do we have a cost-effective means to screen the general population?
3. 3 Does early diagnosis make a difference
4. Will an early diagnosis motivate people to use information gained from screening?

Poor Funding

• The cost of caring for and supporting a person with autism without an intellectual disability is $1.4 million
• Autism costs the American economy about $175 billion a year.
  That’s more than the cost of cancer, strokes and heart disease combined.

Short url = http://is.gd/DAutism