Vitamin D Deficiency & Autism

The more we find out about vitamin D, the more important we realize that optimal vitamin D levels are for good health. Vitamin D is vital for brain formation and development, proper immune function, bone development, cardiovascular health and much more.

Vitamin D also regulates a gene responsible for the conversion of tryptophan into serotonin. Serotonin is crucial during fetal brain development. When vitamin D is lacking, so is serotonin, which can result in neurological defects.

According to CDC statistics, In the early 1980s, the incidence of autism was 1 in 10,000 and today, it has increased to more than 1 in 50,. Projections from reputable experts suggest that within 20 years, HALF of all children will have some form of autism.

While there's a strong component of increased awareness, which means more children are being diagnosed, this still cannot account for the exponential increase in autism.

The many can take care of the few, but the few can't take care of the many. A culture can't continue to thrive if every other child has autism. Clearly something needs to be done to curb this trend.

The human genetic makeup hasn't changed since the 1980s, but own environment has. There is a debate about what the autism triggers are. I personally think that there are a number of factors that are causing this rise and not just one. I believe that these factors are working in synergy with each other to produce this "imperfect storm".

But just what can a parent do to reduce the risk to their child?

Biological scientist Rhonda Patrick, Ph.D. has published two papers that expand on some powerful lifestyle interventions that could have profound influence not only on autism, but a variety of other developmental disorders in childhood.

Vitamin D Is an Important Gene Regulator:

To understand why vitamin D plays such an important role in brain function and dysfunction, it's important to understand what vitamin D actually is. Despite being named a "vitamin," vitamin D actually gets converted into a steroid hormone. Other steroid hormones include estrogen and testosterone.

When you have enough vitamin D in your body, it binds to vitamin D receptors located throughout your body, acting like a key that opens the doors to physiological functions.

The vitamin D receptor complex can either turn genes on (making them active), or turn genes off (making them inactive).

Autism Has Risen in Tandem With Vitamin D Deficiency:

While autism is not likely caused by any one factor, it's worth noting that as the incidence of autism has gone up, so has vitamin D deficiency. People are spending less time outdoors and are using more sunblock.

One of the genes that vitamin D regulates, encodes an enzyme called tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH), which converts the amino acid tryptophan into serotonin. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter in the brain that regulates your mood and is vital for brain development. Serotonin also has numerous additional functions throughout the rest of the body.

Gut Versus Brain Serotonin:

You have two different tryptophan hydroxylase genes in your body. One is in your brain (TPH2) and the other is in your gut (TPH1).

The one in your brain makes serotonin for the brain and the one in your gut converts tryptophan into serotonin for the rest of your body. What is important to understand is that the gut serotonin can't cross the blood-brain barrier to get into your brain and the brain serotonin stays in the brain. This is an important point. About 90% 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 the serotonin in the brain. 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 impacts the ability of blood platelets to respond to tissue injury. On the other hand, too much gut serotonin can cause trouble, by promoting inflammation.

Vitamin D Keeps Gut Serotonin in Check:

What Patrick discovered is that, in the gut, vitamin D turns off, or dampens the activity of the gene responsible for making the enzyme that converts tryptophan into serotonin. In this way, vitamin D helps combat inflammation in your gut caused by excessive serotonin levels.

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, these two things then happen simultaneously.

Prior to Patrick's research, this simply wasn't known. This research helps to 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 shows quite clearly how important it is to have enough vitamin D to prevent and treat both of these problems.

The Role of Serotonin During Early Brain Development:

During the fetal brain development phase, serotonin plays an important role. Serotonin is an ingredient required for the development of the brain's shape, structure and internal wiring. Serotonin basically tells the neurons where to position themselves in the brain and what type of neurons they should become. If you don't have sufficient amounts of serotonin, abnormal brain structure and brain wiring will result.

Maternal Autoimmunity and Autism:

Maternal autoimmunity has also been linked to autism. Mothers of autistic children are four times more likely to have auto-antibodies against fetal brain proteins in their blood. It's not normal to have antibodies against brain proteins in your blood, but mothers of autistic children often do.

Our bodies have a protective mechanism to prevent that from happening. We can make a type of immune cell called T regulatory cells (Tregs). T regulatory cells are very important because they keep your immune system in check, making sure that your immune system knows what’s really foreign and what’s your own self. Vitamin D helps to regulate this mechanism.

If You're Pregnant, or Have an Autoimmune Disorder, Be Sure to Optimize Your Vitamin D:

Optimizing your vitamin D is of particular importance during pregnancy. In fact, optimizing vitamin D levels before and during pregnancy may be one of the most important actions a pregnant mother can take to have a healthy baby.

As for the optimal vitamin D level, the bulk of the research now suggests the ideal range is between 40 and 70 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml). You definitely don't want to be below 40.

Keep in mind that if you opt for a vitamin D supplement, you also need to take vitamin K2. The biological role of vitamin K2 is to help move calcium into the proper areas in your body, such as your bones and teeth. It also helps remove calcium from areas where it shouldn't be, such as in your arteries and soft tissues.

Vitamin K2 deficiency can actually produce the symptoms of vitamin D toxicity, which includes inappropriate calcification that can lead to hardening of your arteries. About 100 mcg of the MK7 type of vitamin K2 is an appropriate daily dose.

If you are taking any anticoagulant drugs, speak to your doctor prior to taking any vitamin K2 supplement.

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