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Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy is linked to autism traits in the child

qbi.uq.edu.au

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Re: Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy is linked to autism traits in the child

#41

Post by hbk1966 »

klodolph wrote: post #35
cowardlydragon wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Minnesota, the Somali immigrants allegedly never saw autism until they came here, and they get a lot of it now. They call it the "Minnesota Disease". I also once read that Cable television penetration rates were correlated with autism as well...

Well, to be perfectly fair, we never "saw" it before 1943, either. I'm not trying to be flippant, our society is set up in a way to diagnose cases of autism, and it is reasonable to suspect that the increased rates of diagnosis are not all caused by increased rates of the condition.

I read somewhere a while back that said that the reason for rising autism rates in the 90's/00's was because we broadened the definition of autism.

Re: Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy is linked to autism traits in the child

#42

Post by a_bonobo »

kovrik wrote: post #19

What does 'linked' word mean here? I see that verb in biological/medical articles very often and it always makes me think that researchers are very unsure about the results. It is like 'We believe there is a correlation, but we don't know for sure'. Am I wrong?

I agree with you, the effect size is relatively small, here's the main table:

http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/vaop/ncurrent/fig_tab/mp201...

Beta is the effect size here, which ranges from 0.07 to 0.03, not exactly high. The p-values may be tiny but that's just a measure of the likelihood of getting these effect sizes by chance.

>These results imply that, after correcting for confounding variables (see notes under Table 3), those who were deficient at time of birth had on average 0.06 point higher gender-weighted SRS score, which corresponds to an increase of approximately one fourth of the s.d. (s.d. of the SRS in the total sample=0.23

Now is 0.06 a large growth for SRS? Let's have a look at the scale of that value:

>The SRS-A mean total score was highest in the ASD sample [autism disorder] (M = 78.5, SD = 13.7), intermediate in the CLIN [other disorders] (M = 63.4, SD = 15.4), and lowest in the TD [typically developing, 'normal ] (M = 55.5, SD = 9.9)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3425739/

So you have about 10 points on average between these groups, an effect size of 0.06 doesn't seem extreme to me (but it is nevertheless linked!)

Re: Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy is linked to autism traits in the child

#43

Post by gohrt »

oh_sigh wrote: post #38
leekyle wrote: post #33

Somalian children living in Minnesota have a higher rate of autism compared to whites and non whites. They have also noticed this in Stockhom as they also have a lot of Somalian immigrants. Researches have found "The increased prevalence remained and was now between four and five times higher in children of Somali background. A clinical observation was that more than 80%, in addition to autism and learning disability…

Do they have higher rates of autism than Somalis in Somalia?

likely hard to get good data on that.

Re: Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy is linked to autism traits in the child

#44

Post by gohrt »

cowardlydragon wrote: post #32
DoodleBuggy wrote: post #5

Wouldn't we be seeing "hot spots" in darker northern climates and trouble-free zones in sunnier southern locations? The most compelling linkages I have seen are to certain pesticide / herbicide exposures and pollution exposures.

In Minnesota, the Somali immigrants allegedly never saw autism until they came here, and they get a lot of it now. They call it the "Minnesota Disease". I also once read that Cable television penetration rates were correlated with autism as well...

There's also a lot of denial of autism in the Somali immigrant community, with traditional supernatural explanations of autistic behaviors.

Re: Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy is linked to autism traits in the child

#45

Post by gohrt »

kovrik wrote: post #19

What does 'linked' word mean here? I see that verb in biological/medical articles very often and it always makes me think that researchers are very unsure about the results. It is like 'We believe there is a correlation, but we don't know for sure'. Am I wrong?

it's a measured correlation.

Re: Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy is linked to autism traits in the child

#46

Post by amelius »

klodolph wrote: post #34
amelius wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can also take cod-liver oil, like people did in the old days. That will give you vitamins A and D, and the essential omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA.

Yeah, but the utility of taking those other supplements is not well substantiated. That's not to say that the utility of taking vitamin D is very well substantiated either, but at least there is some good evidence that suggests that it is.

Well, as the article shows, we don't know everything about nutrition yet. So, the wisest thing to do might just be to eat what our ancestors ate (if science does not tell us it is harmful of course).

Re: Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy is linked to autism traits in the child

#47

Post by aussieguy123 »

Correlation is not causation.

Autism is genetic and an autistic parent is more likely to stay inside most of the time.

Staying inside most of the time can lead to vitamin D deficiency.

If one biological parent is autistic, there is a 50% chance their child will also be autistic.

Re: Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy is linked to autism traits in the child

#48

Post by vixen99 »

mutagen wrote: post #22
exhilaration wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can any HNers recommend a cheap and accurate vitamin D test I can do at home? I asked my doctor for a vitamin D test at my last checkup and he warned me that my insurance probably wouldn't pay for it since "many people are asking for one these days without any symptoms of deficiency". Since I had no idea what the lab might end up charging me for it (in the U.S.) I decided against getting the test.

I recently came across an article discussing the relationship between vitamin D, K, A, magnesium, and calcium levels. I can't vouch for it's accuracy but it does provide a number of references if you want to go further down the rabbit hole. [1] http://www.precisionnutrition.com/stop-vitamin-d

its accuracy

Re: Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy is linked to autism traits in the child

#49

Post by Nomentatus »

Neliquat wrote: post #3

To extrapolate a bit too far; Basement dwellers beget basement dwellers. Serious thought: Can these traits be considered (de)evolutionary after 2 generations? Will more wealthy bloodlines become better due to improved diet and care? Do we need to start incentivising going outside more often? Or just scale back the demonization of sunlight exposure? Or do we just start a social program mailing out sunlamps as a preven…

I'm not sure that mentioning epigenetics, etc, is really going "too far." It's not unlikely, and epigenetics isn't exactly speculative science anymore. Yes, the comment is flip, and eschews the proper (but quite recent) scientific terms but it is very closely aligned with the science. There's no shortage of evidence of better longevity for the privileged, and better health, for example, although better nutrition from higher-value foods is a more usual speculative cause of this mentioned by researchers.

Re: Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy is linked to autism traits in the child

#50

Post by Nomentatus »

"New research states that 330,000 lives could be saved by optimizing vitamin D levels through sun exposure.[1] That compares to 450,000 deaths linked to tobacco. This is to be expected, since a Swedish study demonstrated that over a 20- year period, women who avoided the sun were TWICE AS LIKELY TO DIE OF ANY CAUSE, as women who were sun-seekers,and the researchers stated the following: “Nonsmokers who avoided sun exposure had a life expectancy similar to smokers in the highest sun exposure group, indicating that avoidance of sun exposure is a risk factor for death of a similar magnitude as smoking.”

Citing: Lindqvist PG, Epstein E, Landin-Olsson M, Ingvar C, Nielsen K, Stenbeck M, Olsson H. Avoidance of sun exposure is a risk factor for all-cause mortality: results from the Melanoma in Southern Sweden cohort. J Intern Med. 2014 Jul;276(1):77-86

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