Vitamin D Autism.

[tedhutchinson]

Autism is now epidemic in the industrialized world. If you know an affected family, you know the tragedy of autism.

No one knows what causes autism.
Why has it increased so dramatically in the last 20 years?
How could it increase if it is a genetic disease?
Why is one identical twin severely affected and the other not?
Why are boys so much more likely to get it than girls?
Why is it more common in Blacks?
Why do autistic children have larger heads?
Why can't they excrete heavy metals?
Why is autism less common closer to the equator?
Why do symptoms first appear around the age of weaning?
Why do certain drugs increase the risk?
Why are seizures so common in autism?
Why do autistic children have frequent infections?
Why do mothers who consume seafood during their pregnancy have a reduced risk of having an autistic child?
Why do a few autistic children seem to get better?
Why do multivitamins seem to help?
We don't know any of the answers to these questions. We don't know how to prevent autism, or how to treat it.

Now a single theory answers all these questions. Furthermore, the theory implies simple prevention and raises, at least the possibility, of treatment.

The May 2007 Vitamin D Newsletter: Autism and Vitamin D.


For UK Readers Hypovitaminosis D in British adults at age 45 y shows that 90% are insufficient in Winter 60% in summer
and for the USA High prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency in black and white ..

[gmc]

posted by tedhutchison

No one knows what causes autism.
Why has it increased so dramatically in the last 20 years?

Like dyslexia it is only in the last twenty years that it has been recognised as being a real medical condition. That's why the numbers are growing. You will still find doctors and teachers that refuse to accept someone may in fact be dyslexic rather than just stupid or deliberately putting it on.

[tedhutchinson]

Originally Posted by gmc

posted by tedhutchison


Like dyslexia it is only in the last twenty years that it has been recognised as being a real medical condition. That's why the numbers are growing. You will still find doctors and teachers that refuse to accept someone may in fact be dyslexic rather than just stupid or deliberately putting it on.

I'm afraid the dramatic increase in Autistic Spectrum disorders is not simply due to better diagnosis but more because of the lack of both Vitamin D and omega 3. How can we expect brains to function optimally if the main essential fatty acid dha is absent from the diet and we stop people from exposing their skin directly to sunlight so they are in the main Vitamin D insufficient most of the year and deficient during the Winter?

[gmc]

Originally Posted by tedhutchinson

I'm afraid the dramatic increase in Autistic Spectrum disorders is not simply due to better diagnosis but more because of the lack of both Vitamin D and omega 3. How can we expect brains to function optimally if the main essential fatty acid dha is absent from the diet and we stop people from exposing their skin directly to sunlight so they are in the main Vitamin D insufficient most of the year and deficient during the Winter?

Diets now are better than they were twenty years ago, even better still than they were thirty or forty years ago. My mother's generation never ate vegetables or fruit on a regular basis for the simple reason it was not available all year round like they are now. Things like bananas and mangoes were unheard of. Rickets used to be one of the most common childhood diseases until people realised the importance of vitamins-or even what they were. The older generation still profess a dislike of vegetables-if you can't get them rationalise that you dislike them.

That has only become commonplace within the last thirty years or so. You don't say what nationality you are but unless you come from a country where fruit and vegetables are seasonal you might not appreciate the difference all year availability actually makes nowadays.

This is just hype put out by those that want to sell vitamin supplements through their health food outlets.

As to sunlight-being from a northern climate my body is adapted to long periods with no sun at all. That's why white Australians have a problem-they mainly come from climates where sunlight just meant the cloud cover got brighter. their bodies can't cope with too much sunshine.

[tedhutchinson]

Originally Posted by gmc

Diets now are better than they were twenty years ago,

I think before you post on the internet you should check your facts.

Hypovitaminosis D in British adults when you have read and understood this paper then come and discuss vitamin D with me.

While you are at it go find how much oily fish is consumed in Scotland and how many portions a week the average Scots person consumes.

Perhaps also you should take some lessons on where Vitamin d3 comes from and the role of sunlight on your skin. Then consider, if you can get it for free who benefits from promoting its use?

When you can support your opinions with peer reviewed medical research then those opinions may be worth reading.

[gmc]

Originally Posted by tedhutchinson

I think before you post on the internet you should check your facts.

Hypovitaminosis D in British adults when you have read and understood this paper then come and discuss vitamin D with me.

While you are at it go find how much oily fish is consumed in Scotland and how many portions a week the average Scots person consumes.

Perhaps also you should take some lessons on where Vitamin d3 comes from and the role of sunlight on your skin. Then consider, if you can get it for free who benefits from promoting its use?

When you can support your opinions with peer reviewed medical research then those opinions may be worth reading.

Actually it's not that interesting a subject. But perhaps you should read the articles you posted.

Conclusion: Prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in the general population was alarmingly high during the winter and spring, which warrants action at a population level rather than at a risk group level

It's hardly surprising is it? Don't know about where you live but we have shorter days in winter. Rickets Used to be very common in the industrial towns nowadays you rarely see it due to the vast improvement in diet.

http://www.dundee.ac.uk/medther/taye...nd_rickets.htm

Dietary sources of vitamin D are rather few; the best ones are fatty fish such as salmon and sardines, and margarine which is supplemented with vitamin D. Milk contains added vitamin D in the USA but not in the UK. Most people in Scotland actually get most of their vitamin D from exposure of the skin to sunlight containing ultra-violet light. People with an ‘average’ lifestyle have enough stored vitamin D in their bodies to last for two or three years.

Your contention that autism is more prevalent now than in the past rather misses the point that the condition is now a recognised one and people are relatively familiar with the condition-especially after the measles vaccine scare. As it happens I know several kids with the condition, in one case at least the father manifests some of the symptoms of autism and had learning difficulties as a child. Now an honours university graduate he shows some of the inability to relate to people on occasion that is also one of the characteristics of autitism

in the past they would have been regarded as special needs, now they can put a name to it. Vitamin D may or not be a contributory factor but is hardly likely to be the full cause of the condition and your study hardly a blinding revelation.

[tedhutchinson]

Originally Posted by gmc

Actually it's not that interesting a subject.

That surely is a matter of opinion. Every day I read the latest Vitamin D3 research and I find the new discoveries very interesting indeed. Perhaps you are not aware that ensuring your Vitamin d status is optimal reduces your chance of Cold/Flu by 70%, Perhaps you missed the research that showed a 50% reduction in Cancer incidence with optimal vitamin D status. When the next (due to be published next month) paper from Heaney is available I'll make sure you know. I fully expect it to prove that a 60% reduction in cancer incidence has been achieved with adequate Vitamin d intake. But I suspect you don't care about those dieing unnecessarily from Low Vitamin d status induced cancers.

Originally Posted by gmc

But perhaps you should read the articles you posted. .

What makes you think I haven't read every page of it and the abstracts available at the links provided?

It's hardly surprising is it? Don't know about where you live but we have shorter days in winter. Rickets Used to be very common in the industrial towns nowadays you rarely see it due to the vast improvement in diet..

If your car tyre is slowly losing air you can actually drive (not safely) without causing physical damage to the actual wheel. You may wreck the tyre but it has to be almost absolutely flat before the wheel rim is damaged. That is similar to Vitamin d deficiency causing rickets, physical damage to the skeleton. To obtain optimal tyre wear and optimal performance and fuel economy from your car you need optimum air pressure and that is considerably more air than sufficient to prevent physical damage to the wheel rim. This paper, signed by all the big names in Vitamin D research shows that the matter needs urgent attention.

The urgent need to recommend an intake of vitamin D that is effective.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 85, No. 3, 649–650, March 2007. Editorial.

http://www.dundee.ac.uk/medther/taye...nd_rickets.htmIf you had read or perhaps understood the research at the second link I provided you would be aware that the information from Dundee which you link to is out of date and doesn't reflect the current situation in the England or Scotland where the Vitamin D deficiency situation is even worse.

Your contention that autism is more prevalent now than in the past rather misses the point that the condition is now a recognised one and people are relatively familiar with the condition-especially after the measles vaccine scare.

Are autism rates increasing?Multiple scientific groups have reported greatly increasing rates of autism over the last twenty years. Dr. Hjordis Atladottir, of the University of Aarhus in Denmark, recently reported that hyperactivity and Tourette's syndrome (two other childhood neurodevelopmental disorders) have increased dramatically right along with autism, while a third, childhood obsessive‑compulsive disorder, has not changed at all. Why would some childhood neurodevelopmental disorders increase dramatically in such a short time, while another is entirely unchanged? Perhaps something is harming our children's brains, and doing so with increasing frequency.
Kippes C, Garrison CBAre we in the midst of an autism epidemic? A review of prevalence data.Mo Med. 2006 Jan–Feb;103(1):65–8. Newschaffer CJ, Falb MD, Gurney JGNational autism prevalence trends from United States special education data.Pediatrics. 2005 Mar;115(3):e277–82. Atladottir HO, et al.Time trends in reported diagnoses of childhood neuropsychiatric disorders: a Danish cohort study.Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007 Feb;161(2):193–8. Baird G, et al.Prevalence of disorders of the autism spectrum in a population cohort of children in South Thames: the Special Needs and Autism Project (SNAP).Lancet. 2006 Jul 15;368(9531):210–5.
Professor Gillian Baird, and his colleagues at Guy's and St. Thomas' Foundation Trust in England, recently discovered that about 1 in 88 English children will eventually develop autism. Families caring for autistic children are under more stress than those caring for a child with cystic fibrosis, a fatal illness. The lifetime cost of autism is $3.2 million per case. Not only is autism epidemic, it is catastrophic. Bouma R, Schweitzer RThe impact of chronic childhood illness on family stress: a comparison between autism and cystic fibrosis.J Clin Psychol. 1990 Nov;46(6):722–30. Ganz MLThe lifetime distribution of the incremental societal costs of autism.Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007 Apr;161(4):343–9.

In the USA incidence in 1993 was 19,058
in 2003 it rose to 141,022
to put that kind of increase simply down to better diagnosis is somewhat naive

Vitamin D may or not be a contributory factor but is hardly likely to be the full cause of the condition.

We won't know until research has been done to compare autism incidence according to the Vitamin d status of the mother over the 12 mths prior to birth and during lactation. In the mean time maintaining optimal Vitamin d status is the safest option. This research shows the level at which not only no measurable damage occurs but at which there is sufficient vitamin d in the system to enable all the systems controlled by Vitamin d status (that some 51 different tissue types and 200+genes) operate unrestricted by a shortage of the operating mechanism.

and your study hardly a blinding revelation.

If that is the case perhaps then you will kindly provide evidence of someone else who has proposed that autism may be related to vitamin D status prior to and after conception?

[luckylucker]

Great topic )))))))))))))
WBR,
Alex

[tedhutchinson]

Originally Posted by luckylucker

Great topic )))))))))))))
WBR,
Alex

If you are interested in Brain Nutrition/autism you may find Dr McCleary's blog worth reading.

2000iu/vitamin d3 is cheap enough. I have been telling people to buy Carlson, Vitamin D, 2000 IU, 360 Soft Gels $11.28 but they are now out of stock.
These Healthy Origins, Vitamin D3, 2,400 IU, 360 Softgels $11.25 would do instead. If you haven't used Iherb before then $5 discount is available to folk who use this code WAB666 But I expect Vitacost/Vitaminshoppe/Vitaminlife or one of the many others will not have sold out of Carlson's.

UK readers buying in the USA (we can only get 1000iu and it's a lot more than you pay for 2000iu) for the first time need to LIMIT their spending to less than £18 or they will pay tax + handling charge on top on delivery. I only use USPS as that is cheaper and seems to be reasonably quick.

[elixer]

I am no expert on autism, but I work with very intimately with many people affected by it. I think gmc presents a very valid point. It's not necessarily more prevalent, just better documented. As has been the case with mental disorders across the board. Before ADD was recpgnized as a real condition, children afflicted were written off as stupid.

In 2007, the Centers for Disease Control released the findings of a major study on autism. There were actually two surveys done looking at 8-year-olds, the first in six states and a second looking at 8-year-olds in 14 states. On average, they found that about one in 150 children born in 1992 and 1994, or 6.7 per thousand, have autism. New Jersey was on the high side with one in every 94 children, including one in every 60 boys.

The CDC announced this latest mind-boggling rate with an air of pride. CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding explained that the new numbers were because "our estimates are becoming better and more consistent."

Now it seems that the CDC is on a par with the medical community with the news about this new autism rate. Not only are doctors better at diagnosing, but also CDC officials are better at counting.

Incredibly, the CDC still cannot say with any certainty that autism is actually affecting more children despite all the autistic kids everywhere. The CDC has been studying autism numbers for more than ten years, yet they don't know if it's more prevalent.

Dr. Gerberding explained it this way, "We can't yet tell if there is a true increase in ASDs or if the changes are the result of our better studies."

Whatever the case, it is a very real epidemic. If they think vitamin D and Omega 3 could help, load 'em up!