Dr. John Cannell of the Vitamin D Council argues that avoidance of sunlight leading to inadequate vitamin D3 levels in the body may be a major factor in autism. Here is the thrust of his argument ...

In 2001 researchers noted that vitamin D3 increased nerve growth factor in the brain and that vitamin D receptors appeared in a wide variety of brain tissues quite early in the development of the baby. They concluded that vitamin D deficiency “should be examined in more detail as a possible risk factor for neurodevelopmental … disorders.” [2]

In 2006, Dr Alan Kalueff and colleagues went further, suggesting that vitamin D offered “neuro-protection, possible interplay with several brain neurotransmitter systems, and hormones, as well as regulation of behaviours.” In 2007 the team concluded that the scientific consensus now stressed the importance of the mother having enough vitamin D3 while she was pregnant, and the child having enough vitamin D3 after birth for “normal brain functioning.” [3]

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A genetic error which causes a rare form of rickets, ‘pseudo-vitamin D3 deficiency rickets’, involves the defective manufacture of vitamin D3 by the body. Whilst no-one has assessed children afflicted with this condition for signs of autism, they clearly display autistic markers, such as hypotonia (flabby muscles), decreased activity, developmental motor delay, listlessness and failure to thrive.

On the other hand, children with Williams Syndrome (a rare congenital disorder due to a missing piece of chromosome seven) often have greatly elevated vitamin D3 levels for several months in early life. In later life they tend to be especially sociable and display overfriendliness, empathy, and willingness to initiate social interaction, the opposite personality of autistic children. [4]

Variations in the DNA sequence of vitamin D3 receptor are common and called vitamin D3 receptor (VDR) polymorphisms (many shaped receptors). No one has studied them in autism, but a highly significant association exists between one VDR polymorphism and larger head size. Larger head sizes are common in autism, especially in childhood. [5]

The Role of Sunlight
Although there are no firm figures, it is almost certain that average vitamin D3 levels have reduced substantially over the last twenty years since sun-avoidance became national health policy in most more industrially developed countries. The last twenty years has also seen a huge rise in autism. [8]

• A strong correlation between the geographical latitude of regions/countries and the prevalence of autism in those regions/countries was found in children born before 1985. In one US study, for instance, New Jersey, the second most northern of the states surveyed, had the highest autism rate, whilst Alabama, the southernmost, had the lowest. For children born after 1985 the difference in rates was much less clear. The researchers posited that 1985 was approximately the time when the current medical fashion of sun-avoidance and splashing on sun cream came to the fore. The suggestion is that the promotion of sun avoidance has removed the different levels of exposure to sunlight which would have occurred naturally before that time
• Studies of a possible link between season-of-birth and autism are contradictory, as would be expected if vitamin D3 deficiencies can impair brain development both during pregnancy and in early childhood. Most studies, however, show that most babies born with autism are born in the winter, especially in March, when vitamin D3 levels in mothers and foetuses are at their lowest [8b]
• Case studies have reported significant improvements in autistic behaviours during summer camps which included swimming, hiking, boating and other activities that would increase brain levels of vitamin D3 [8c]

Is autism an ongoing inflammatory disease process?
Abnormal inflammation is associated with both autism and vitamin D3 deficiency. For example, autistic individuals show increases in cytokines (inflammatory cells) in patterns very similar to those seen in immune processes regulated by vitamin D3 where vitamin D3 levels are deficient. [9]

Both the brain and the blood of autistic individuals show evidence of ongoing chronic inflammation and oxidative stress, suggesting a progressive and probably increasingly destructive disease process. If this ongoing inflammation could be interrupted, the symptoms of autism might improve. Given vitamin D3’s powerful anti-inflammatory properties, a vitamin D3 treatment for autism may be very effective. We already know that vitamin D3:

• decreases production of inflammatory cytokines in the brain, which have consistently been associated with brain impairment
• stimulates neurotrophin release (neurotrophins induce the survival of nerve cells)
• reduces toxic calcium levels in the brain, and
• inhibits the production of nitrous oxide (nitrous oxide destroys brain cells)
• increases concentrations of glutathione, the brain’s master antioxidant [10]

Does vitamin D3 explain the role of vaccines, mercury, and heavy metals in autism?

• Activated vitamin D3 increases glutathione levels in the brain
• The main reason heavy metals can reach toxic levels in the brain is inadequate levels of glutathione
• Glutathione acts as a chelating (binding) agent to remove heavy metals, like mercury
• Autistic individuals have difficulty excreting heavy metals, like mercury

This may explain why the tiny amounts of mercury in vaccines or in the mother’s teeth appear to injure some children but not others. Did the non-injured children enjoy higher levels of vitamin D3, giving them higher levels of glutathione and making their bodies better at capturing and excreting the mercury? Both a mercury accumulation theory and an oxidative stress theory already exist for autism [12]

Why are boys at higher risk of autism?
The reason there are four times as many autistic boys as girls is uncertain, but there is one clue. Oestrogen and testosterone have very different effects on vitamin D3 metabolism. In mid-pregnancy, when the baby’s brain is rapidly developing, boys’ brains bathe in testosterone and girls’ brains bathe in oestrogen. The majority of studies have found that oestrogen has multiple enhancing effects on the brain’s ability to metabolise vitamin D3 whilst testosterone does not. This means that girl babies are probably less prone to vitamin D3 deficiencies than boy babies. [14]

Is autism more common in dark-skinned people?
Studies have found higher incidences of autism in dark-skinned children. Their pigmentation acts as a permanent sunscreen. [18]

Ed.- (i) A 2002 US study [26] found blood clots and a family history of thrombophilia (an increased tendency for blood clotting) in 70% of cases where autism followed an MMR jab. In such people the blood supply to the brain is lower, possibly disrupting brain function leading to autism.

A separate study [27] found decreased blood flow in the brains of autistic children, confirming two earlier studies [28]

(ii) In Green Health Watch 27 (Dental amalgam, thimerosal, MMR and autism) we reported Professor Boyd Haley's hypothesis that the far greater number of autistic boys than girls was explained by the reaction of the male hormone testosterone with the mercury-based vaccine preservative, thimerosal, making it even more toxic, compared to the reaction between the female hormone with thimerosal, reducing its toxicity.

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