Vitamin D, produced in human skin when it’s bombarded by the ultraviolet rays of the sun, may be the most powerful anticancer agent ever known, and lack of it during a mother’s pregnancy and breastfeeding (and keeping babies shielded from ultraviolet sunlight) could be the cause of most autism:
Many researchers now fear that the explosive increase in autism is a result of pregnant mothers having close to no vitamin D in their bodies and then young babies and infants being similarly shielded from the Sun. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says that virtually no infants are getting enough vitamin D. The inadequacy figures, even using the CDC’s pre-2011 lower recommendations of what they thought the body should have, was that 90 percent of infants are deficient.
According to Cannell, the highest autism rates occur in areas that have the most clouds and rain, and hence the lowest blood levels of vitamin D. A Swedish study has strongly linked sunlight deprivation with autism. Moreover, blacks, whose vitamin D levels are half those found in whites living at the same latitudes, have twice the autism rates. Conversely, autism is virtually unknown in places such as sunny Somalia, where most people still spend most of their time outdoors. Yet another piece of anecdotal evidence is that autism is one of the very few afflictions that occur at higher rates among the wealthier and more educated – exactly the people most likely to be diligent about sunscreen and more inclined to keep their children indoors.
As we saw in assessing links between earthly events and sunspot fluctuations, it’s perilous to assign connections too quickly, and autism in particular is a can of worms. Nonetheless, these early threads should set off alarms: it might be wise for pregnant women and mothers of small children to immediately start exposing themselves and their kids to more sunlight.
I know at least one of my regular readers has reason to take note.
That’s interesting. I know breastfeeding babies are supposed to take a daily vitamin D supplement, and that baby formula is already fortified with vitamin D. So, I wonder if children are still deficient even after the supplementation.
From the article, I assume most are.
I read somewhere else that Silicon Valley has a higher incidence of autism than the rest of the US. It’s in California, and I think the sunshine there is more frequent, not less.
You probably read it in the Wired article that I linked to in an earlier post. But as this article mentions, people don’t encourage their kids go outside to play anymore. Glass blocks the UV rays that the skin uses to generate vitamin D, so unless you actually go outside, in full sunlight, you don’t get any of them.
It is true that Vitamin D deficiency is common, my doctor discovered I had it and perscribed a vitamin D course. Vitamin D also is good for the heart, it’s quite important for longevity, my doctor said, to not be Vitamin D deficient. (There’s a reason why G-d made it so people would generate the vitamin themselves merely by being in sunlight. 🙂 )
GoddessJ has had me taking vitamin D pills for more than a year, long before we knew about this. She thought it might help prevent my occasionally bouts of depression. I don’t know whether it did or not, but knowing what I do now, I’m happy to continue either way.
“D” for Depression? Yeah, I could see that helping! 🙂 Seriously though, thinking of what Vitamin D deficiency can do to you is a depressing subject, so I’m sure it helps. 😉