OK, I know this is not an Autism forum, but I don't see one for Autism, and don't autistic folks have some issues with anxiety and or panic disorders? Any way, I have just posted this as Off Topic over at the HW prostate cancer forum, and thought I should copy it over here also. If it does not belong here or is inappropriate, I apologize up front, and if so, mods please just delete:
Any one here have any friends or family with autism problems? I just sent this to a friend who has an autistic child. All supplements they studied had no benefits at all, until they checked vitamin D. An
open label trial(no placebo) showed 81% of supplemented children saw significant improvement of autism scores, with best results when blood levels were raised above 40 ng/ml(pretty high). Later, a randomized placebo controlled study(from Saudi Arabia, UK, Norway, China) giving up to 5000 IU/ day showed significant improvement in autism symptoms. As usual, no apparent bad SEs. And as Dr. Gregor says, in the video, about
the lack of placebo controlled trials, "and it is about
time".
/nutritionfacts.org/video/dietary-supplements-for-autism/?utm_source=NutritionFacts.org&utm_campaign=6c12fc2b71-RSS_VIDEO_WEEKLY&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_40f9e497d1-6c12fc2b71-23982641&mc_cid=6c12fc2b71&mc_eid=620cd771e1/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27868194Somebody said...
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a frequent developmental disorder characterized by pervasive deficits in social interaction, impairment in verbal and nonverbal communication, and stereotyped patterns of interests and activities. It has been previously reported that there is vitamin D deficiency in autistic children; however, there is a lack of randomized controlled trials of vitamin D supplementation in ASD children.
METHODS:
This study is a double-blinded, randomized clinical trial (RCT) that was conducted on 109 children with ASD (85 boys and 24 girls; aged 3-10 years). The aim of this study was to assess the effects of vitamin D supplementation on the core symptoms of autism in children. ASD patients were randomized to receive vitamin D3 or placebo for 4 months. The serum levels of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (25 (OH)D) were measured at the beginning and at the end of the study. The autism severity and social maturity of the children were assessed by the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC), Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), and the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC).
TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER:
UMIN-CTR Study Design: trial number: UMIN000020281.
RESULTS:
Supplementation of vitamin D was well tolerated by the ASD children . The daily doses used in the therapy group was 300 IU vitamin D3/kg/day, not to exceed 5,000 IU/day. The autism symptoms of the children improved significantly, following 4-month vitamin D3 supplementation, but not in the placebo group. This study demonstrates the efficacy and tolerability of high doses of vitamin D3 in children with ASD.
CONCLUSIONS:
This study is the first double-blinded RCT proving the efficacy of vitamin D3 in ASD patients. Depending on the parameters measured in the study, oral vitamin D supplementation may safely improve signs and symptoms of ASD and could be recommended for children with ASD. At this stage, this study is a single RCT with a small number of patients, and a great deal of additional wide-scale studies are needed to critically validate the efficacy of vitamin D in ASD.
© 2016 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
KEYWORDS:
Autism spectrum disorder; children; clinical trial; vitamin D