vitamin D is one of the essential components of children's growth and development - the UK and the United States health department had previously suggested that babies be best supplemented daily with vitamin D . But researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia and the Holland medical center in Erasmus have found new evidence that vitamin D plays an important role in the development of children's brain. If vitamin D is lacking during pregnancy, it may increase the risk of autism in future generations.
the best way to supplement vitamin D in life is to get the sun and take in foods rich in vitamin D, such as fish and eggs. Pregnant women supplemented with vitamin D can effectively promote calcium absorption, so that fetal teeth and bones grow more solid.
but now researchers, based on blood samples from 4200 pregnant women and their children, have found that autism and low levels of vitamin D in the blood have a certain continuity. They found that pregnant women who had symptoms of vitamin D deficiency at 20 weeks of gestation were more likely to have symptoms of autism before they were 6 years old.
professor John McGrath of University of Queensland said: "this study further demonstrates that low levels of vitamin D are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. Just as taking folic acid during pregnancy can reduce the chance of a baby's spina bifida, this study suggests that prenatal vitamin D supplementation reduces the incidence of autism.
published in the magazine "Molecular Psychiatry".