Vitamin D Supplements Improve Autism in Study (Premium)
Research results have shown an association between the risk of autism spectrum disorder and vitamin D insufficiency. In a recent study, 109 children with autism spectrum disorder aged 3 – 10 received vitamin D supplement or a placebo for 4 months to see how effective it would be as a therapy. Learn how much vitamin D3 they were given and what the results were.
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Reportedly, supplementation of vitamin D was well tolerated. The daily doses used in the therapy group was 300 IU vitamin D3/kg/day, not to exceed 5,000 IU/day. Reportedly, the autism symptoms of the children improved significantly following 4-month vitamin D3 supplementation, but not in the placebo group
“Autism symptoms — such as hyperactivity, social withdrawal, and others — improved significantly following vitamin D3 supplementation but not after receiving placebo,” said Dr. Khaled Saad, lead author of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry study.
The vitamin D blood levels were measured at the beginning and 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 AutismTreatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC).
“This study is the first double-blinded, randomized clinical trial proving the efficacy of vitamin D3 in autism spectrum disorder patients. Depending on the parameters measured in the study, oral vitamin D supplementation may safely improve signs and symptoms in autism spectrum disorder and could be recommended for children with autism spectrum disorder.”
Sources: Pubmed and ScienceDaily
A separate case report on vitamin D and autism symptom improvement
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