Which vitamins are autistic's commonly deficient in?

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tchek
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31 Dec 2012, 3:26 pm

I don't know.

Personnally i feel better after a day under the sun, so I guess Vitamin D, and I feel far more alert after an Energy drink (Taurine).

I've read studies about how Taurine might improve autism.

Fnord
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31 Dec 2012, 3:28 pm

tchek wrote:

Please post links to those studies.

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Tim_Tex
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31 Dec 2012, 4:17 pm

I have an iron deficiency, but I am not sure if such deficiencies are autism-related.

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eric76
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31 Dec 2012, 4:19 pm

Here's an excellent presentation on Vitamin D by Michael Holick, one of the leading researchers in Vitamin D. It's been more than three years since when I watched the lecture and I don't remember if it discusses anything related to Autism, but it does talk about the problems with being able to produce Vitamin D in the winter time.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq1t9WqOD-0[/youtube]

Dr Holick's speaking style is quite interesting.

(I posted this on another Vitamin D thread as well.)

eric76
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31 Dec 2012, 4:30 pm

Coastt wrote:

Do your research before taking a large dose of any one vitamin. Certain vitamins can be toxic. Excess A,D,E, and K, is stored in fat tissue and organs.

It is possible to take too much Vitamin D -- Vitamin D toxicity is a serious health risk but is quite rare.

If you watch Dr Holick's lecture on Vitamin D that I posted a few minutes ago, he mentions a case of Vitamin D toxicity. In that case, it was discovered that the manufacturer of the Vitamin D the man was taking contained many times the amount of Vitamin D that it was suppsed to contain. Instead of taking a few thousand IU a day, the man was taking something like a hundred thousand or more. (I don't remember the numbers mentioned in the talk.)

The only other Vitamin D toxicity case that I have read about was very similar to that. The manufacturer made a big mistake in manufacturing and was putting in far more Vitamin D in the tables than was reasonable.

So while you might possibly be able to get toxic amounts of Vitamin D from the tablets, it appears quite unlikely that you would do so.

I take 4,000 IU of Vitamin D a day in the winter time. In the summer when I'm able to go outside in the mid day and be exposed to UVB from the sun normally, I don't take Vitamin D.

emimeni
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31 Dec 2012, 4:37 pm

Callista wrote:

Yeah, taking nutrition advice from random people isn't particularly useful. They haven't studied your diet or your physical health. You really need a doctor or nutritionist for specific advice.

The vitamins autistic people might be deficient in depends on their diets.

If you have a restricted diet or lots of taste/texture sensitivity issues, you may be missing some nutrients. In order to figure out whether you are, analyze your diet. A nutritionist is trained to do that sort of thing and can help.

If you have a reasonable amount of variety in your diet, you probably do not have any deficiencies. Many foods are fortified with a wide range of vitamins, so that you may be getting most of what you need even with a restricted diet. Vitamin D is notable--you can get that by being out in the sun as well as by eating fortified foods. Other vitamins/minerals/amino acids can be had just from your diet or manufactured by your body.

Autistic people who have restricted or repetitive diets are vulnerable to deficiencies, but the autism is only the indirect cause--it's more that you can't stand to eat more than a narrow range of foods, or use repetitive eating patterns (eating the same thing every day) to simplify the problem of keeping yourself fed. The autism itself doesn't directly cause any particular issues.

If you're worried you might have gaps in your diet, ask your doctor for a referral to a nutritionist or occupational therapist (depending on what particular issue is causing the most trouble) and see if you can either modify your diet to cover more nutrients, or take supplements to cover gaps you can't fill with food.

Yeah, that.

And, of course, if you are deficit in vitamins or minerals, it might manifest behaviorally or mentally. This isn't autism. This is a vitamin/mineral deficit. An NT might also have the NT equivalent of a meltdown, or depression if they had the same nutritional issues.

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tchek
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31 Dec 2012, 5:35 pm

Fnord wrote:

tchek wrote:

Please post links to those studies.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=autism+taurine

Happy new year everyone :afro:

eric76
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31 Dec 2012, 10:26 pm

tchek wrote:

Fnord wrote:

tchek wrote:

Please post links to those studies.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=autism+taurine

Happy new year everyone :afro:

He asked for links to studies, not some kind of lame google search that just turns up links to web pages about it.

Perhaps you can try again and show links to actual studies.

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01 Jan 2013, 4:48 am

I take a multivitamin, calcium supplement and vitamin D daily. Osteoporosis / bone density loss runs in my family, thus the calcium. I am also allergic to UV rays / direct sunlight (my skin breaks out in itchy hives), thus the vitamin D.

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hanyo
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01 Jan 2013, 5:09 am

If you are worried get tested by a doctor and find out? That or take safe reasonable doses and see if you feel any better?

I just take a multivitamin and iron. The multivitamin has 800 IU vitamin D and it says that is 200% of the daily value. I think that is enough for me and I barely get any sun. The iron is only because it turned up in blood tests that I was anemic and the doctor told me to. I'll probably stop when the bottle runs out. The possible reasons for my anemia are gone now.

I like the gummy vitamins for adults. I don't like swallowing pills unless I have to and they turn taking vitamins into eating delicious candy.

eric76
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01 Jan 2013, 5:11 am

hanyo wrote:

I bet that you didn't watch Dr. Holick's video.

hanyo
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01 Jan 2013, 5:20 am

eric76 wrote:

I bet that you didn't watch Dr. Holick's video.

I didn't and now that I checked it I probably won't for a while because I don't want to watch an hour long video. I can't even remember to watch the 45 minute long tv show I like often enough to keep up. Maybe sometime when I'm doing something afkable in my mmorpg I'll load it up and watch it next to my game.

I do take some vitamin D because other than recently because of doctor appointments I rarely go outside and I don't usually drink much milk.

eric76
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01 Jan 2013, 6:22 am

hanyo wrote:

eric76 wrote:

I bet that you didn't watch Dr. Holick's video.

Remember that the old recommendations for Vitamin D are based on preventing rickets. Modern research has found and is finding many other areas where Vitamin D plays a critical role. For example, Vitamin D is an important for the proper functioning of our immune systems. It is also important to help prevent diabetes and to maintain blood proper blood sugar levels for those with diabetes. Plus there is the apparent link with Autism for pregnant women.

So 400 IU a day is likely fine if all you are concerned about is rickets.

zena4
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01 Jan 2013, 6:37 am

Tim_Tex wrote:

I have an iron deficiency, but I am not sure if such deficiencies are autism-related.

Hello there,

I don't think so. I know that a lot even if not most of women here (in France) have the same deficiency and I can tell you that they are not all autistic - far from that.

... It's only due to their female condtion and the monthly bleedings.

Sweetleaf
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01 Jan 2013, 6:42 am

Well I am no expert on vitamins but that sounds like a lot, and I am thinking as with all things too much is bad for you...so that does seem like an extreme amount of vitamins and as far as I know on all vitamin and supplement packages it says 'not meant to cure, diagnose or treat any condition' or something to that effect.....I mean to each their own but I would not suggest taking large amounts of vitamins in an attempt to treat autism because a mother with an autistic child says you should. People can be misinformed and it sounds like they are.

That said I don't know what vitamins I am short on, but its certainly not vitamin C since I love citrus things...I imagine I do get vitamins from food to as I try to eat real food maybe not enough since its hard for me to eat as much as I should. Anyways vitamins are just to help general functioning over all they can't treat or cure specific conditions.

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JellyCat
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01 Jan 2013, 9:21 am

4,000 IU of vit D3 isn't in the slightest bit bad for you.
It may say on the label that a supplement isn't designed to cure something, but that doesn't mean it can't.

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