By Dr. Mercola
There has been a dramatic and concerning increase in the rates of
autism spectrum disorder (ASD) over the last 30 years and experts
believe the rates will continue to increase.
When I was in medical school more than 35 years ago, the incidence of autism was 1 in 10,000.
According to a 2013 report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (DHHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), data collected from the 2007 and 2011–2012 National Survey of
Children's Health suggested 1 in 50 children between the ages of 6 and
17 had ASD.1,2
In April, 2016, the CDC reported an ASD rate of 1 in 68.3
However, that rate is only based on 8-year-olds in 11 states (Arkansas,
Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin).
Despite that limitation, the 1 in 68 prevalence is the one listed on the CDC's Autism Data and Statistics website,4
and the one most frequently reported in the news. Meanwhile, a
government survey issued in 2015 claims the ASD rate may be as high as 1
in 45 children between the ages of 3 and 17.5,6
What's Causing the Rapid Rise in Autism?
Disturbingly, the CDC also reports that an astounding 1 in 6 children
have some form of developmental disability, ranging from speech and
language impairments to more serious intellectual disabilities,
including autism and cerebral palsy.7
According to projections by Stephanie Seneff, Ph.D., a senior
research scientist at MIT, within the next two decades, half of all
children born will have some form of autistic disorder if the current
trend continues unabated.8
If this projection ever materializes it spells the end of our
country. Without some sort of advanced artificial intelligence there is
no way any country can survive, let alone thrive, with half of the
adults being autistic. So what is responsible for this epidemic?
Mounting research indicates that brain disorders are the result of
excessive exposure to toxins, including the commonly used weed killer Roundup, both during pregnancy and after birth.
Two other critical factors appear to be related to damaged gut microbiome and vitamin D deficiency, the latter of which is the focus of this article.
Vitamin D Deficiency During Pregnancy Raises Autism Risk
For a time, the idea that vitamin D deficiency might play a role in
autism was little more than a logical suspicion, based on the fact that
the human brain contains vitamin D receptors, suggesting vitamin D is
important for proper brain development and function.
Mounting research is now starting to validate this hypothesis. Most recently, a large multi-ethnic population-based cohort study9
published in Molecular Psychiatry found that vitamin D deficiency
during pregnancy was associated with an increase in autism-related
traits in 6-year-old children.
The study, which has garnered wide international media attention,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17
is the first study examining the association between gestational
vitamin D deficiency and autism or autism-related traits in general
population samples. According to the authors:
"[T]hose who were 25OHD [25-hydroxyvitamin D]deficient had significantly higher (more abnormal) SRS [Social Responsiveness Scale] scores.
The findings persisted (a) when we restricted the models to
offspring with European ancestry, (b) when we adjusted for sample
structure using genetic data, (c) when 25OHD was entered as a continuous
measure in the models and (d) when we corrected for the effect of
season of blood sampling …
It is feasible that a safe, cheap and publicly accessible vitamin
D supplement in at risk groups may reduce the prevalence of this risk
factor.
Just as prenatal folate supplementation has reduced the incidence
of spina bifida, we speculate that prenatal vitamin D supplementation
may reduce the incidence of autism."
Two Important Considerations
All of the mothers enrolled in the study gave birth between April
2002 and January 2006. The children were then followed until the age of
6.
Vitamin D levels were assessed at mid-gestation (between 18 and 25
weeks) from maternal blood samples, and cord blood at birth. There are
two points I'd like to highlight regarding this study.
1. Vitamin D deficiency was defined as a
25OHD concentration below 10 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) or 25
nmol per liter (nmol/L).
A vitamin D level between 10 to 19.96 ng/mL (25 to 49.9 nmol/L) was
deemed insufficient, while a level of 20 ng/mL (50 nmol/L) or more was
sufficient.
Other leading vitamin D researchers have produced compelling evidence
showing that anything below 40 ng/mL (100 nmol/L) is insufficient, and
anything below 20 ng/mL (50 nmol/L) is a deficiency state.
If these higher levels had been used here, it could potentially have
resulted in an even greater correlation between ASD symptoms and vitamin
D status. For a healthy pregnancy and baby, I strongly recommend making
sure your vitamin D level is between 40 and 60 ng/mL (100 and 150
nmol/L).
2. The 25OHD concentration in this study
was defined as the sum of 25-hydroxyvitamin D2 and 25-hydroxyvitamin
D3), measured in blood.
This means it included all sources of vitamin D, be it from sun
exposure, supplements and/or foods. Vitamin D2 would be from irradiated
plant sources and D3 is from animal sources.
However, when it comes to raising your vitamin D level, there's reason
to suspect that swallowing vitamin D (either as D3 or D2, the latter of
which has actually been shown to have significant drawbacks or side
effects18) may not provide the same benefits as sensible sun exposure.
To learn more about this difference, please see my previous interview with Seneff.
If you, for whatever reason, cannot obtain sufficient sun exposure
year-round to raise or maintain optimal levels, then a vitamin D3
supplement is certainly advisable.
It's better than nothing, but ideally, to obtain ALL the benefits of
vitamin D, aim for sensible ultraviolet (UV) exposure while being very
careful not to get sunburned.
Remember that vitamin D is an indirect biologic marker of UVB
exposure and you are likely to disrupt important and many
as-yet-undiscovered mechanisms if you trick your body by obtaining
vitamin D without sun exposure.
One that we are currently aware of is that you will miss the
near-infrared radiation from sun UVB exposure, which balanced the UVB
and has many important functions. Near-infrared radiation will activate
cytochrome C oxidase in your mitochondria and help to optimize ATP
production among many other important functions.
Biological scientist Rhonda Patrick, Ph.D., has published two papers19,20
that present a truly elegant hypothesis for how vitamin D may influence
autism. To understand why vitamin D plays such an important role in
brain function (and dysfunction), it's important to understand that
vitamin D actually gets converted into a steroid hormone (other steroid
hormones include estrogen and testosterone).
As a steroid hormone, it regulates over 1,000 different physiological
processes, and is thought to control at least 5 percent of the human
genome. When you have enough vitamin D in your body, it binds to vitamin
D receptors located throughout your body, thereby acting like a key
that opens the proverbial door.
The vitamin D receptor complex can go deep inside the DNA, where it
recognizes the tell-tale sequence of code that instructs the vitamin D
receptor complex to either turn the gene on (making it active), or off
(making it inactive).
Patrick's research identified a vitamin D-regulated gene that encodes
a foreign enzyme called tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH). TPH is
responsible for converting tryptophan (which you get from dietary
protein) into serotonin, a neurotransmitter involved in both mood
regulation and brain development.
You have two different TPH genes in your body — one in your brain and
one in your gut. The one in your brain makes serotonin in the brain,
and the one in your gut converts tryptophan into serotonin in the gut,
and the latter cannot cross the blood-brain barrier to get into your
brain.
This is an important point because, while many understand that the
majority (about 90 percent) of the serotonin in your body is produced in
the gut and not the brain, the thinking has been that the gut serotonin
will automatically influence brain function.
Since it's unable to cross the blood-brain barrier, this is not the
case. The two serotonin systems are completely separate. Your gut
serotonin plays a role in blood coagulation, which is an important
benefit. On the other hand, too much gut serotonin will activate
T-cells, causing them to proliferate and promote inflammation.
Vitamin D Keeps Gut Serotonin in Check
What Patrick discovered is that, in the gut, vitamin D deactivates the
gene responsible for making TPH (the enzyme that converts tryptophan
into serotonin). In this way, vitamin D helps combat inflammation in
your gut caused by excessive serotonin levels.
Meanwhile, in the brain, the tryptophan hydroxylase gene has a sequence
that causes the opposite reaction. Here vitamin D activates the gene,
thereby increasing serotonin production! Needless to say, when you have
sufficient amounts of vitamin D, two things happen simultaneously:
Gut inflammation is reduced, courtesy of deactivating the gene associated with serotonin production.
Serotonin levels in the brain are increasedby gene activation, and
in the brain, serotonin plays an important role in mood, impulse
control, long-term planning, long-term behavior, anxiety, memory and
many other cognitive functions and behaviors, including sensory gating —
the ability to filter out extraneous or unimportant stimuli.
Since the publication of Patrick's first paper21
in 2014, an independent group at the University of Arizona has
biochemically validated her findings, confirming that vitamin D does
activate the tryptophan hydroxylase 2 (TPH2) gene in a variety of
neuronal cell types.
Prior to the publication of that paper, this simply wasn't known, and
it's a significant finding that can help shed a great deal of light on
vitamin D's influence in autism, as a majority of autistic kids have not
only brain dysfunction, but also gut inflammation. Her research clearly
shows how important it is to have enough vitamin D to prevent and treat
both of these problems. To learn more, please listen to Patrick's
interview, included above for your convenience.
Low Vitamin D Associated With Multiple Sclerosis
Vitamin D is crucial during pregnancy for many other reasons as well.
Research has shown that children born of women with adequate levels of
vitamin D have a lower risk for multiple sclerosis (MS) and other autoimmune conditions like inflammatory bowel disease and type 1 diabetes, in childhood and later life.
A recent Danish study22,23
showed that newborns with vitamin D levels above 20 ng/mL (50 nmol/L)
were 47 percent less likely to develop MS by the age of 30 compared to
those with vitamin D levels below 12 ng/mL (30 nmol/L) at birth.
MS is a chronic, neurodegenerative disease of the nerves in your brain
and spinal column, caused through a demyelization process. It has long
been considered a "hopeless" disease with few treatment options.
A study24,25 presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine26
(AANEM) in 2014 showed that vitamin D deficiency is surprisingly
prevalent among those diagnosed with MS and other neuromuscular
conditions. Here, vitamin D deficiency was defined as a 25OHD3 level of
30ng/mL (75 nmol/L) or less.
Of patients diagnosed with a neuromuscular condition, 48 percent were
deficient in vitamin D. Only 14 percent were above "normal," which here
constituted a vitamin D level of 40 ng/mL (100 nmol/L). According to
one of the authors:
"While the connection between vitamin D deficiency and neurologic
disease is likely complex and not yet fully understood, this study may
prompt physicians to consider checking vitamin D levels in their
patients with neurologic conditions and supplementing when necessary."
Besides this one, about a dozen other studies27
have also noted a strong link between MS and vitamin D deficiency. For
example, a number of studies have confirmed that your risk of MS
increases the farther away you live from the equator, suggesting lack of
sun exposure amplifies your risk.
Vitamin D Optimization May Slash Risk of Premature Birth in Half
Each year, more than half a million preemies are born in the U.S., and it's the number one killer of newborns.28 Research shows that half of these premature births could be easily prevented simply by raising pregnant women's vitamin D levels.29 Among African-American and Hispanic populations, as much as 70 to 75 percent of all preterm births might be prevented.
Similar findings have been documented among twin births, which tend to have a higher risk for preterm birth. A 2013 study30
found that women carrying twins who had a minimum vitamin D level of 30
ng/mL (75 nmol/L) in their late second trimester had a 60 percent
reduction in preterm births.
According to a 2015 paper31
produced by researchers from GrassrootsHealth and the Medical
University of South Carolina, women with vitamin D levels of 40 to 60
ng/mL (100 to 150 nmol/L) have a 46 percent lower preterm birth rate
than the general population. Women with a vitamin D level at or above 40
ng/mL (100 nmol/L) by their third trimester had a 59 percent lower risk
for premature birth than those with levels below 20 ng/mL (50 nmol/L).
Moreover, as noted in a press release:32
"Another key finding was a steady increase of gestation time (how long
the baby stayed in the womb) correlating to the rise of vitamin D up to
around 40 ng/mL where it reached a plateau."33 In other words, 40 ng/mL or 100 nmol/L is "the magic level" for the prevention of premature birth. Yet another 2015 study34 found the following correspondences between vitamin D levels and premature birth (less than 37 weeks of gestation):
Among women with a vitamin D level of less than 20 ng/mL (50 nmol/L) the incidence of preterm birth was 11.3 percent
Among those with a vitamin D level of 20 to 29.96 ng/mL (50 to 74.9 nmol/L) the preterm birth rate was 8.6 percent
Among those with 30 ng/mL (75 nmol/L) or greater, the preterm birth rate was 7.3 percent
Vitamin D — A Simple, Inexpensive Way to Improve Your and Your Child's Health
In the video above, Glen Depke interviews Dr. Carol Wagner, a neonatologist and lead principal investigator for Protect Our Children NOW!,
a public health campaign aimed at raising global awareness about the
importance of optimal vitamin D levels for women's and children's
health. In it, Wagner cites research done by her team showing that 4,000
international units (IUs) of vitamin D3 per day appears to be an ideal
amount for pregnant women.
That said, your requirement may be higher or lower depending on your
current status, so please make sure you get your vitamin D level tested —
ideally before you get pregnant and routinely during pregnancy and
breast feeding — and take whatever amount of vitamin D3 you need to
reach and maintain a level of 40 to 60 ng/mL (100 to 150 nmol/L).
Certainly, it should be no lower than 40 ng/mL (100 nmol/L).
I strongly suggest taking this information to heart, and to share it
with anyone that might benefit. Optimizing your vitamin D is one of the
easiest and least expensive ways to reduce your risk of complications
and premature birth. It can also significantly reduce your child's risk
of ASD, MS and other chronic health conditions.
The vitamin D test you're looking for is called 25(OH)D or
25-hydroxyvitamin D. This is the officially recognized marker of overall
D status, and is most strongly associated with overall health. The
other vitamin D test available, called 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D
(1,25(OH)D), is not very useful for determining vitamin D sufficiency.
While sunlight is the ideal way to optimize your vitamin D, winter and
work prevent more than 90 percent of those reading this article from
achieving ideal levels without supplementation. Just remember to also
increase your vitamin K2 and magnesium intake, either from food or
supplements and seek to move or vacation for long periods in the
subtropics to get vitamin D naturally from sun exposure.
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