Vitamin D status and scholastic achievement in middle age childhood.
J Egypt Soc Parasitol. 2012 Aug;42(2):349-58.
Nassar MF, Amin DA, Hamed AI, Nassar JF, Abou-Zeid AE, Attaby MA.
Department of Pediatric, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
Non-classical effects of vitamin D are not surprising in that many tissues, including neurons, possess vitamin D receptors.
Thirty school aged children with delayed scholastic achievement and 15 normal ones were enrolled in the current study to identify the serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D [25(OH) D] status in school aged children in relation to their scholastic achievement.
Besides estimation of serum 25(OH) D levels, neuro-developmental assessment was done using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) and the Benton's Visual Retention Test (BVRT).
Serum 25(OH) D was significantly lower in children with delayed scholastic achievement.
Picture completion scores were significantly lower in children with deficient and inadequate serum 25(OH) D.
There were positive correlations between serum 25(OH) D level and values of WISC.
Regarding BVRT results, good memory was associated with adequate serum 25(OH) D.
In conclusion, serum 25(OH) D is deficient in children with delayed scholastic achievement causing affection of memory and learning process. Larger scale studies using learning assessment tools are thus recommended to further prove this point and search the impact of vitamin D supplementation on the school achievement in this age group.
PMID: 23214213
VitaminDWiki does not recall seeing association between delayed academic development and low vitamin D before.
Wonder if vitamin D might account for African-Americans ( and others with dark skins) perhaps having poor school grades.
Wonder if autism studies have noticed increased frequency with Darker skins.
See also VitaminDWiki
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