Speech at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, California
Given at the same time as the Vitamin D Workshop
PDF of the slides is attached at the bottom of this page
You may want to read the slides in a 2nd window while viewing the YouTube video
Bullet-point overview by VitaminDWiki: Why Dr. Cannell believes Autism is related to Vitamin D
- Both have strong inheritance features – Vitamin D about 60%
- Both have gotten substantially worse in last 30 years
- Vitamin D is known to be involved in brain development
- All autistic children are VitD deficient, but not all children who are deficient are autistic: genes are involved
- When giving vitamin D to cure children of rickets “mental dullness” decreases as well
- Children with genes which give them too much (Williams Syndrome) have to reverse of autism – too sociable
- Mothers having lots of fish (and thus more vitamin D) give birth to kids with less autistic symptoms
- Both associated with weak bones
- Both worse around the age of weaning
- Autism is more common in rich families – more likely to apply sun screen and stay indoors
- Autism increases with drugs which lower levels of vitamin D
- Seizures are common with Autism - Vitamin D has been shown to reduce seizures
- Fewer autistic symptoms (such as sleep problems) during summer: when child gets more vitamin D from the sun
- Both worse with latitude
- Both vary with Ultraviolet light
- Both vary with time of year (more birth of autistics in March in Northern hemisphere)
- 2X more urban autism – less UVB in urban environments
- Both worse with pollution
- Both worse with increased clouds and rain
- Both worse with closely spaced pregnancies
- Autistics have abnormal immune response – similar to that of vitamin D deficiency
- Low levels of vitamin D in mother animals reduces brain function in offspring
- Vitamin deficient rat pups have similar brain abnormalities to that of human autistic children
- Autistic children get less vitamin D in their blood for the same amount of sun exposure
- The 4 males/1 female ratio - Note estrogen increases vitamin D in the brain (testosterone does not)
- Both worse in African Americans (A-A 2-3 increased autism rate)
- Both worse in Dark-skinned immigrants in Europe
- Note: All articles in Autism category
165 items
See also VitaminDWiki
- Overview Autism and vitamin D
- Dr. Cannell on Autism – Spring 2013 45 minute webinar hosted by GrassRootsHealth April 2013
Note Dr. Cannell's response to question #30 in the webinar
Accidentally 3 mothers gave 3 dropper fulls instead of 3 drops worth of vitamin D to their austistic children
Dr. Cannell did not say, but a typical standard is 2,000 IU in a drop, so the children got 60,000 IU per day
There was a rapid recovery in all three cases.
Dr. Cannell speculated that the future goal for Autism might be a vitamin D level of 150 ng instead of the current 50-80 ng level- Early lack of vitamin D may trigger autism – Clinical Review April 2012
- Prenatal vitamins – including vitamin D – reduced autism by 7X in some cases – May 2011
- Autism 3X more likely after closely spaced pregnancy vs 3 year apart– Jan 2011
- Twins, no tan, winter, and smoking all associated with low levels of vitamin D during pregnancy – Jan 2013
- Pregnancy and vitamin D meta-analysis – July 2012
- Overview Pregnancy and vitamin D
- Dark skin pregnancies and Vitamin D - many studies
- Breast Cancer and Vitamin D: Dr Garland - video June 2013 presented just after Dr. Cannell
- Most Autism Risk factors are associated with low vitamin D - March 2014
See also web
- Autism many items at Vitamin D Council - headed by Dr. Cannell
- Autism, will vitamin D treat core symptoms? by Dr. Cannell, Aug 2013, 3 page text in Medical Hypothesis Journal is behind a paywall
Short url = http://is.gd/autism62013
Autism treated by Vitamin D: Dr. Cannell - video June 201314991 visitors, last modified 26 Mar, 2018, This page is in the following categories (# of items in each category)