re: Is autism the new ADHD?

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Seems every kid today is "on the spectrum" according to their parents. Keep in mind these kids mostly appear to be raised in homes where parents try to be the friend of the child and don't ever say no to them in fear of hurting their feelings or harming their self esteem.

On social media it's like a badge of honor to have an autistic child. Some of the women on my Facebook are more than happy to shout loud and proud that their kid is "on the spectrum" although he/she hasn't been actually diagnosed by a medical doctor.

This post obviously isn't aimed at the children that do indeed have autism in any of its forms. Just seems today any bad behavior or personality quirk is autism.

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The link between vitamin D and autism

In 2008, Dr. John Cannell of the Vitamin D Council published a paper on the link between autism and vitamin D. [6] This was the first published paper suggesting that vitamin D was associated with autism. The paper provided evidence for this relationship, such as an increased prevalence of autism in the USA in regions of greater cloud cover and rainfall. Also, in the United States, the rate of autism for children ages 6 to 17 years is highest in the regions of the country with the lowest solar UVB doses. [7] Whether this variation is due solely to vitamin D production or other factors of sunlight in addition to vitamin D production cannot be determined from this geographical ecological study.

Autism is also more common in areas with impaired UVB production, such as areas with high air pollution. Also, people who are dark skinned experience an increased risk for both vitamin D deficiency and autism.

A study conducted in the Faroe Islands found that those with ASD had lower vitamin D levels than their parents or siblings. [8] Most, but not all, studies have found children with ASD have lower levels of vitamin D than do typically developing controls. [9] According to several studies, more children with autism are born during the spring, which is the time of year with the lowest vitamin D levels in northern latitudes. [10]

In a groundbreaking discovery, researchers in Sweden have determined that children who later develop ASD had lower vitamin D levels at birth than their typically developing siblings do. [11] This helps rules out, but doesn’t entirely disprove, environmental factors as a cause of lower 25(OH)D levels in ASD children; it does suggest that heritability in vitamin D metabolism may cause the lower 25(OH)D levels at birth. Vitamin D levels at birth are dependent on the mother’s vitamin D levels, and one would think that a mother’s vitamin D levels would not drastically change from one pregnancy to the next. Therefore, this study suggests that the heritability of 25(OH)D, which ranges from 30% to 70% in different studies, is the genetic/environmental factor scientists have long sought in ASD.

Also, in another innovative study, Schmidt et al discovered that certain genes associated with lowered vitamin D blood levels are also associated with autism. [12] However, a Mendelian randomization study (where scientists study thousands of people for genetic defects in vitamin D metabolism to see if those genes are associated with autism) has not yet been done.

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Mechanisms of vitamin D in autism (See Cannell and Grant for a review [13])

Every cell in the brain has vitamin D receptors. The receptors control gene expression or how genetic material is used. Therefore, vitamin D certainly is involved in brain function.
One of the hallmarks of autism is oxidative stress. This leads to early cell death. Scientific literature reports that vitamin D reduces oxidative stress.
Environmental risk factors may lead to DNA mutations and increased risk for autism. Vitamin D protects against DNA damage. Vitamin D also repairs the DNA damage once it occurs.
Vitamin D might also reduce the risk or severity of autism through its anti-inflammatory actions,
Anti-autoimmune effects (autoimmune disorders, such as autism, occur when the body’s own immune system attacks itself),
increasing the seizure threshold making seizures less common),
Increasing T-regulatory cells (these are the cells that calm the immune system),
Protecting the mitochondria (mitochondria are the power plants of the cell) and by
Up-regulating glutathione (glutathione is the body’s master antioxidant), which also chelates (captures and excretes) heavy metals.

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Vitamin D levels during pregnancy

Several findings suggest that low vitamin D levels (in mothers during pregnancy and in infants) may affect the risk of autism:

Low maternal vitamin D status is a risk factor for premature delivery. The risk of autism increases with each week a baby is born early. [14] Premature delivery accounts for about 4% of autism cases in the United States.
Infection by influenza during pregnancy could increase the risk of autism. Influenza during pregnancy raises the maternal body temperature. High levels of vitamin D may lower the risk for influenza.
A recent paper by a scientist who is a member of the National Academy of Science answered the “serotonin paradox,” (why do children with autism have high levels of serotonin in their blood but low levels in their brain. Professor Bruce Ames and his colleague Rhonda Patrick made a convincing case that vitamin D during pregnancy and early childhood reduces the risk of ASD by directly regulating serotonin production during human brain development. [15] Serotonin is produced by the enzyme tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH). In the brain, TPH activity is genetically upregulated by vitamin D but in the periphery, TPH is down regulated by vitamin D, thus explaining the “serotonin paradox.”
These and other findings do not prove that vitamin D reduces the risk of autism. However, the theory is strong enough that Dr. Cannell states, “The possibility deserves immediate attempts to disprove it.”[16]

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