In the past few weeks, there have been a couple of reports about Vitamin D in “Scientific American” magazine which both have bearings on autism.

Vitamin D Deficiency Affects the US

The first report was about how Vitamin D deficiency is soaring in the US, according to a study published in the “Archives of Internal Medicine”. The study claimed that a whopping three quarters of US teens and adults have a deficiency of vitamin D – that’s quite an incredible figure and makes you wonder why.

The study’s author, Adit Ginde, from the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, puts this vitamin D deficiency down to skin cancer prevention measures such as wearing long sleeves and using sunscreen ( sun protection of just factor 15 can cut the skin’s ability to manufacture vitamin D by 99%) and points out that there are actually very few dietary sources of vitamin D. Vitamin D is known as the “sunshine vitamin” because the skin produces vitamin D when it is exposed to the sun. By protecting ourselves from sun exposure, to reduce our risk of melanoma, we are cutting our levels of vitamin D.

Is There a Link between Lack of Sun and Autism?

But what has all this got to do with autism? Doesn’t a vitamin D deficiency lead to bone problems, such as rickets, osteoporosis and arthritis, not autism?

Well, yes, but experts are now wondering if a growth in vitamin D deficiencies has got something to do with the growth in autism. This theory is the result of two preliminary studies in Minnesota and Sweden, and the findings of these studies are discussed in the second article in “Scientific American” magazine.

Both Sweden and Minnesota have large Somali immigrant communities who seem to be overrepresented in the total number…