Born Smart

Since the publication of Professor Anthony Normans’ paper in August there have been a flood of reports on the importance of Vitamin D. We like to think that by now we have a handle on nutrients and how they interact in our body, but the reality is that the Journal of Nutrigenomics and Nutrigenetics is only 1 year old. Nutrigenetics is the study of how nutrients interact with our genes to regulate or alter gene expression.

The latest and possibly one of the most startling studies on vitamin D, raise the question on whether Autism can be caused by a deficiency in vitamin D. A nutrient that many people in the northern hemisphere are deficient in for two reasons, the most obvious lack of sunshine and the second reason because they do not eat sardines or salmon, the only food that can provide you with sufficient amounts of vitamin D. The study from Sweden was on Somali immigrants that have an unusually high rate of Autism after several years of migrating from a country where autism is virtually nonexistent.

What I find frustrating is a study I read a few months ago, well after the emergence of vitamin D. The researchers fed participants oily fish and the authors contributed the good result to omega 3. There is more than one ingredient in a food, and what we need to consider is that it is more than just a possibility that these nutrients work together in harmony.

One of the reasons why supplements just cannot reproduce the same results as a food, proved in studies on lung cancer where, carrots have a protective effect but supplements with beta carotene increases the chance of developing lung cancer.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=vitamin-d-and-autism