In the search for reliable biomarkers for the early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder: the role of vitamin D.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects about 1% of the world's population. Vitamin D is thought to be essential for normal brain development and modulation of the immune system. Worldwide about 1 billion people are affected by vitamin D deficiency.

Vitamin D and autism, what's new?

An increasing amount of evidence points to the possibility that gestational and early childhood vitamin D deficiency [25(OH)D < 40 ng/ml] cause some cases of autism. Vitamin D is metabolized into a seco-steroid hormone that regulates about 3% of the 26,000 genes in the coding human genome. It is also a neurosteroid that is active in brain development, having effects on cellular proliferation, differentiation, calcium signaling, neurotrophic and neuroprotective actions; it also appears to have an effect on neurotransmission and synaptic plasticity.

Multiple unexplained fractures in infants and child physical abuse.

When an infant presents with X-rays showing multiple unexplained fractures in various stages of healing (MUFVSH), the child is usually diagnosed with child abuse based on criteria of the Academy of Pediatrics' Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect (AAPCCAAN). Almost always, the infant is subsequently removed from the home and civil or criminal proceeding commence. It may be that healing infantile rickets or other poorly understood metabolic bone disorders of infancy are responsible for these x-rays.

Vitamin D and chronic diseases: the current state of the art.

The objective was to provide the current state of the art regarding the role of vitamin D in chronic diseases (osteoporosis, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, dementia, autism, type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus, male and female fertility). The document was drawn up by panelists that provided their contribution according to their own scientific expertise. Each scientific expert supplied a first draft manuscript on a specific aspect of the document's topic that was subjected to voting by all experts as "yes" (agreement with the content and/or wording) or "no" (disagreement).

Vitamin D status in autism spectrum disorders and the efficacy of vitamin D supplementation in autistic children.

Objectives: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder characterized by pervasive deficits in social interaction, impairment in verbal and non-verbal communication, and stereotyped patterns of interests and activities. Vitamin-D deficiency was previously reported in autistic children. However, the data on the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and the severity of autism are limited.

Emphasizing the health benefits of vitamin D for those with neurodevelopmental disorders and intellectual disabilities.

People with neurodevelopmental disorders and intellectual disabilities have much greater health care needs. Mainly staying indoors, such people generally have low 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations. The Vitamin D Task Force of the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD) reviewed the evidence of 25(OH)D concentrations that benefit the health of persons with developmental disabilities.

What is the role of vitamin D in autism?

A growing body of literature suggests that higher serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations, either in utero or in early life, may reduce the risk of autism. For example, an ecological study in the companion paper inversely correlated solar UV-B doses in the United States with prevalence of autism among those aged 6-17 y. That study proposed that vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy could account for this finding, although the findings are also consistent with childhood vitamin D deficiency contributing to the condition.

Autism prevalence in the United States with respect to solar UV-B doses: An ecological study.

Evidence is mounting that vitamin D deficiency is intimately involved in autism. We report on autism prevalence by US state for those aged 6-17 y in 2010 with respect to indices of solar UV-B (UVB) doses. We calculated autism prevalence rates for white, black and Asian Americans by using total prevalence and relative populations of minors for each ethnic group by state.

Vitamin D and inflammation.

Several studies found an inverse relationship between 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and markers of inflammation. A controversy exists as to whether vitamin D lowers inflammation or whether inflammation lowers 25(OH)D concentrations. Certainly 25(OH)D concentrations fall after major surgery.

Autism, will vitamin D treat core symptoms?

No medication exists to treat the core symptoms of autism. However, some children spontaneously improve and have optimal outcomes. Parents of autistic children who have access to swimming pool have reported summertime improvement in symptoms to me.

Commentary. On the epidemiology of influenza: reply to Radonovich et al.

On the epidemiology of influenza: reply to Radonovich LJ, Martinello RA, Hodgson M, Milton DK, Nardell EA. Influenza and ultraviolet germicidal irradiation. Virol J.

Athletic performance and vitamin D.

Purpose: Activated vitamin D (calcitriol) is a pluripotent pleiotropic secosteroid hormone. As a steroid hormone, which regulates more than 1000 vitamin D-responsive human genes, calcitriol may influence athletic performance. Recent research indicates that intracellular calcitriol levels in numerous human tissues, including nerve and muscle tissue, are increased when inputs of its substrate, the prehormone vitamin D, are increased.

Use of vitamin D in clinical practice.

The recent discovery--from a meta-analysis of 18 randomized controlled trials--that supplemental cholecalciferol (vitamin D) significantly reduces all-cause mortality emphasizes the medical, ethical, and legal implications of promptly diagnosing and adequately treating vitamin D deficiency. Not only are such deficiencies common, and probably the rule, vitamin D deficiency is implicated in most of the diseases of civilization. Vitamin D's final metabolic product is a potent, pleiotropic, repair and maintenance, seco-steroid hormone that targets more than 200 human genes in a wide variety of tissues, meaning it has as many mechanisms of action as genes it targets.

On the epidemiology of influenza.

The epidemiology of influenza swarms with incongruities, incongruities exhaustively detailed by the late British epidemiologist, Edgar Hope-Simpson. He was the first to propose a parsimonious theory explaining why influenza is, as Gregg said, "seemingly unmindful of traditional infectious disease behavioral patterns." Recent discoveries indicate vitamin D upregulates the endogenous antibiotics of innate immunity and suggest that the incongruities explored by Hope-Simpson may be secondary to the epidemiology of vitamin D deficiency.

Autism and vitamin D.

Unlabelled: Any theory of autism's etiology must take into account its strong genetic basis while explaining its striking epidemiology. The apparent increase in the prevalence of autism over the last 20 years corresponds with increasing medical advice to avoid the sun, advice that has probably lowered vitamin D levels and would theoretically greatly lower activated vitamin D (calcitriol) levels in developing brains. Animal data has repeatedly shown that severe vitamin D deficiency during gestation dysregulates dozens of proteins involved in brain development and leads to rat pups with increased brain size and enlarged ventricles, abnormalities similar to those found in autistic children.