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.

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.

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.