Answer: Try giving your child a multivitamin/mineral supplement.
Effect of a vitamin/mineral supplement on children and adults with autism.
Abstract
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND:
Vitamin/mineral supplements are among the most commonly used treatments for autism, but the research on their use for treating autism has been limited.
METHOD:
This study is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled three month vitamin/mineral treatment study. The study involved 141 children and adults with autism, and pre and post symptoms of autism were assessed. None of the participants had taken a vitamin/mineral supplement in the two months prior to the start of the study. For a subset of the participants (53 children ages 5-16) pre and post measurements of nutritional and metabolic status were also conducted.
RESULTS:
The vitamin/mineral supplement was generally well-tolerated, and individually titrated to optimum benefit. Levels of many vitamins, minerals, and biomarkers improved/increased showing good compliance and absorption. Statistically significant improvements in metabolic status were many including: total sulfate (+17%, p = 0.001), S-adenosylmethionine (SAM; +6%, p = 0.003), reduced glutathione (+17%, p = 0.0008), ratio of oxidized glutathione to reduced glutathione (GSSG:GSH; -27%, p = 0.002), nitrotyrosine (-29%, p = 0.004), ATP (+25%, p = 0.000001), NADH (+28%, p = 0.0002), and NADPH (+30%, p = 0.001). Most of these metabolic biomarkers improved to normal or near-normal levels.The supplement group had significantly greater improvements than the placebo group on the Parental Global Impressions-Revised (PGI-R, Average Change, p = 0.008), and on the subscores for Hyperactivity (p = 0.003), Tantrumming (p = 0.009), Overall (p = 0.02), and Receptive Language (p = 0.03). For the other three assessment tools the difference between treatment group and placebo group was not statistically significant.Regression analysis revealed that the degree of improvement on the Average Change of the PGI-R was strongly associated with several biomarkers (adj. R2 = 0.61, p < 0.0005) with the initial levels of biotin and vitamin K being the most significant (p < 0.05); both biotin and vitamin K are made by beneficial intestinal flora.
CONCLUSIONS:
Oral vitamin/mineral supplementation is beneficial in improving the nutritional and metabolic status of children with autism, including improvements in methylation, glutathione, oxidative stress, sulfation, ATP, NADH, and NADPH. The supplement group had significantly greater improvements than did the placebo group on the PGI-R Average Change. This suggests that a vitamin/mineral supplement is a reasonable adjunct therapy to consider for most children and adults with autism.
Read the complete scientific article:
Effect of a vitamin/mineral supplement on children and adults with autism.
Here are some other interesting findings suggesting autism may in some cases be somehow linked to a nutritional deficiency:
Autism rates associated with nutrition and the WIC program.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES:
Autism rates in the United States are increasing at a rate of 15% per year. Autistic children are diagnosed by age 3 when they have problems communicating and interacting socially. This study uses nutritional epidemiology and an ecologic study design to link the possible cause of autism to nutrition by creating autism rates for the 50 states of America and comparing them with published measures of infant nutrition such as duration of exclusive breast-feeding and participation in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. The percentage of infants with measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) inoculations was also compared with the autism rates. Study
DESIGN:
Autism rates for each state were established. The percentage of infants who participate in the WIC program for low-income families was calculated for each of the 50 states as well as 21 New Jersey and 30 Oregon counties and compared with their autism rates. An ecologic study design with correlation coefficients is limited, but it is useful for generating hypotheses to be tested.
RESULTS:
The states with the highest WIC participation have significantly lower autism rates (p < 0.02). A similar pattern was observed in 21 New Jersey counties (p < 0.02) and 30 Oregon counties (p < 0.05). In contrast, there was a direct correlation with the increasing percentage of women exclusively breast-feeding from 2000-2004 (p < 0.001). Infants who were solely breast-fed had diets that contained less thiamine, riboflavin, and vitamin D than the minimal daily requirements (MDR). There was no correlation of MMR inoculations with the autism rate.
CONCLUSION:
The mothers who are exclusively breast-feeding should also continue their prenatal vitamins or their equivalent and make better dietary choices. These results suggest that autism may be nutritionally related to a possible deficiency of riboflavin or the cognitive vitamins such as thiamine or vitamin D. However, due to an ecologic study design there is a potential for fallacy because individuals were not examined. The results suggest the need for a robust observational study in advance of, and to confirm the need for, an intervention study.
Prevalence of autism according to maternal immigrant status and ethnic origin.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
To examine the rates of autism separately according to maternal immigrant status and ethnic origin in respect to the vitamin D insufficiency hypothesis.
METHOD:
Articles were identified by electronic searches. Studies were selected when they analysed autism rates according to maternal immigrant status and/or ethnic origin using multivariate techniques.
RESULTS:
This review gave further support to the association between maternal immigrant status and an increased risk of autism. The relationship with ethnic origin was more complex. Although the crude rates did not differ, multivariate analyses taking into account confounding factors found that black ethnicity was associated with an increased risk for autism. The risk was highly significant when considering the strict definition of autistic disorders as opposed to the large definition of other pervasive developmental disorders. The risk was also very significant for autism associated with mental retardation.
CONCLUSION:
These results are consistent with the maternal vitamin D insufficiency hypothesis. Neurobiological studies are warranted to document the effect of maternal vitamin D insufficiency during pregnancy on the foetal brain and the window of vulnerability. This review stresses the importance of monitoring vitamin D levels in pregnant women, especially those who are immigrant, dark-skinned or veiled, and the urgency of randomized controlled trials.
Epidemiologic evidence supporting the role of maternal vitamin D deficiency as a risk factor for the development of infantile autism.
Abstract
This study examines whether maternal vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for infantile autism disease (IAD). We used epidemiologic data seasonal variation of birth rates and prevalence of IAD for cohorts born before 1985. For seven studies reporting spring-to-summer excess birth rates for IAD, the season progressed from broad near 30 degrees N latitude, spring/summer in midlatitudes, to winter at the highest latitude. Also, using data from 10 studies, we found a strong effective latitudinal (related to wintertime solar ultraviolet B radiation) increase in IAD prevalence. These findings are consistent with maternal vitamin D deficiency’s being a risk factor for IAD, possibly by affecting fetal brain development as well as possibly by affecting maternal immune system status during pregnancy. Further investigation of this hypothesis is warranted.
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Reduced serum levels of 25-hydroxy and 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D in Egyptian children with autism.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
The aim of this study was to investigate the potential role of vitamin D in autism through serum level assessment.
DESIGN:
This was a case-controlled cross-sectional study.
SETTING:
The study was conducted at the Out-patient Clinic for “Children with Special Needs” at the Medical Services Unit of the National Research Centre in Cairo, Egypt.
SUBJECTS:
Seventy (70) children with autism diagnosed according to the DSM-IV criteria of the American Psychiatric Association were recruited for this study. The mean age +/- standard deviation (SD) of the patients was 5.3 +/- 2.8 years. Controls included 42 age-matched randomly selected healthy children of the same socioeconomic status (mean age +/- SD, 6.1 +/- 1.8 years).
METHODS:
Circulating levels of both forms of vitamin D (25(OH)D and 1,25(OH)(2)D) and serum calcium were measured for all subjects. Associations between vitamin D status, birth season, and clinical characteristics of autism were examined.
RESULTS:
Children with autism had significantly lower 25(OH)D (p < 0.00001) and 1,25(OH)(2)D (p < 0.005) as well as lower calcium (p < 0.0001) serum values than the controls. A significant positive correlation was obtained between 25(OH)D and calcium (correlation coefficient r = 0.309, p < 0.01) within the children with autism. No significant difference was found on comparison of birth month and season of birth between children with autism and healthy controls. Furthermore, associations linking parental consanguinity or convulsions with vitamin D could not be established.
CONCLUSIONS:
Serum values of 25(OH)D in the children with autism of this study could classify them as being “vitamin D inadequate,” which lends support to the hypothesis that autism is a vitamin D deficiency disorder.
Vitamin D status among immigrant mothers from Pakistan, Turkey and Somalia and their infants attending child health clinics in Norway.
Abstract
High prevalences of vitamin D deficiency have been reported in non-Western immigrants moving to Western countries, including Norway, but there is limited information on vitamin D status in infants born to immigrant mothers. We aimed to describe the vitamin D status and potentially correlated factors among infants aged 6 weeks and their mothers with Pakistani, Turkish or Somali background attending child health clinics in Norway. Eighty-six healthy infants and their mothers with immigrant background were recruited at the routine 6-week check-up at nine centres between 2004 and 2006. Venous or capillary blood was collected at the clinics from the mother and infant, and serum separated for analysis of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (s-25(OH)D) and intact parathyroid hormone (s-iPTH). The mean maternal s-25(OH)D was 25.8 nmol/l, with 57 % below 25 nmol/l and 15 % below 12.5 nmol/l. Of the mothers, 26 % had s-iPTH>5.7 pmol/l. For infants, mean s-25(OH)D was 41.7 nmol/l, with 47 % below 25 nmol/l and 34 % below 12.5 nmol/l. s-25(OH)D was considerably lower in the thirty-one exclusively breast-fed infants (mean 11.1 nmol/l; P < 0.0001). Use of vitamin D supplements and education showed a positive association with maternal s-25(OH)D. There was no significant association between mother’s and child’s s-25(OH)D, and no significant ethnic or seasonal variation in s-25(OH)D for mothers or infants. In conclusion, there is widespread vitamin D deficiency in immigrant mothers and their infants living in Norway. Exclusively breast-fed infants who did not receive vitamin D supplements had particularly severe vitamin D deficiency.
And this fascinating review article reviewing the evidence that autism may be at least in part caused by a vitamin D deficiency in the mothers and the newborn child:
