This is an exerp from an article by John Cannell, MD, Atascadero, CA 93422, that I receive via e-mail on a regular basis... He runs the Vitamin D Council and the Vitamin D Newsletter. He is on the cutting edge of Vitamin D research. I have been Blogging for over 2 years on the epidemic of low vitamin D levels and it's effect on immune function, cancer, heart disease etc.
Now there may be evidence that hiding from the sun or using sunblocks could be involved in the epidemic of Autism since 1999. Read on and make your own judgments...
cw
The role of sunlight...
Vitamin D intake—are children and pregnant women getting as much as they used to?
No, because sun exposure is much less common today. Furthermore, perhaps because the term, vitamin D, contains the word "vitamin," many people mistakenly assume it is a vitamin, though it is not. Vitamin D is the only known precursor for a steroid hormone system that, until recent sun‑avoidance, always began in the skin and not the mouth. Before the sun‑scare, 90% of human vitamin D stores came from skin production, not diet. Large populations of pregnant women and autistic children ingesting small amounts orally, instead of generating large amounts through the skin, are novel to human brain development. Obviously, if people are going to put it in their mouths, rather than make it in their skin, oral intake must be adequate enough to make up for decreased skin production. However, the skin's production of vitamin D is rapid and robust, easily exceeding usual dietary sources by a factor of 10. For example, when fair‑skinned adults sunbathe in the summer (one, full‑body, exposure to ultraviolet light, enough to turn the skin slightly pink) they make about 20,000 units of vitamin D in 20 minutes. A pregnant woman would have to drink 200 glasses of milk or take 50 prenatal multivitamins to do the same. An autistic boy who plays inside the house, instead of outside, would have to take several thousand units of vitamin D to make up for what his skin would have produced had he played outside that day.
When did medical organizations first tell us to avoid the sun?
In 1989, around the time autism began to rise, the American Medical Association's (AMA) Council on Scientific Affairs first warned about the dangers of sun exposure, advising mothers to "keep infants out of the sun as much as possible." In 1999, when autism rates really exploded, the American Academy of Pediatrics went further, advising mothers always to keep infants out of direct sunlight, use sun‑protective clothes and sunblock, and make sure children's activities minimize sunlight exposure. Quite inexplicably, they said there was "no evidence" such changes would affect vitamin D levels. By 2002, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported such efforts were quite successful: "protection from sun exposure is reported for a high proportion of children."
Did authorities recommend compensatory vitamin D intakes?
Medical organizations did not plan for the vitamin D deficiency such sun avoidance would predictably induce. For example, when the AMA warned about the dangers of sunlight, they did not even mention that sunlight triggers the formation of vitamin D. Furthermore, medical recommendations for infants, children, young women, and pregnant women, did not change during the decades of sun avoidance: 200 units/day for all infants, children, pregnant women, and young adults—regardless of weight. That is, they did, and still do, recommend the same 200 daily units for a 5‑pound infant as they do for a 200‑pound pregnant woman. In fact, in 2003, the American Academy of Pediatrics cut their long‑standing 400 units/day recommendation in half—apparently to comply with government recommendations—and did so despite warnings from a prominent University of Wisconsin professor of pediatrics, Dr. Frank Greer, and despite their own advice four years earlier that infants and children should avoid sunlight.
Have vitamin D levels fallen as autism has increased?
Yes they have, although no linear studies of vitamin D levels over the last 20 years exist. That is, we don't know how effective sun avoidance campaigns have been in lowering vitamin D levels. However, if one assumes that some Americans do follow their government's and physician's advice, then at least some must have had declining vitamin D levels over the last 20 years—unless they took enough supplemental vitamin D to make up for lack of sun exposure. Unfortunately, few take the thousands of daily units needed to do that. What we do know is that vitamin D deficiency, like autism, is now an epidemic.
What Is The Vitamin D Theory of Autism?
In addition to the current epidemic of vitamin D deficiency, say another epidemic—an epidemic of autism—was upon our children? What if the autism epidemic began at the same time the epidemic of vitamin D deficiency began? What if both epidemics had worsened in unison? What if one theory explained all the known facts about autism? What if both epidemics had the same root cause: sun avoidance? What if both were iatrogenic, that is, medical advice to avoid the sun had caused both epidemics? Be warned, what follows is not light reading—autism is not a light disease.
If you or anyone you know has Autism, read and forward this information as soon as posible.
Autism and Vitamin D
Christopher Wiechert, C.N.C.
Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a health care professional. If you decide to use this information on your own, it's your constitutional right, but I assume no responsibility.
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