Autism 'caused by genetics', study suggests

[Bearware]

31. The headline "Autism 'caused by genetics', study suggests" is not true as stated

Last edited Fri Mar 6, 2015, 09:38 PM - Edit history (1)

Some Autism is definitely genetic - if you have the genes you get the disease. A whole lot of the rest of Autism - not so much)

There was a much bigger study (I don't think they used twins) where they found a lot of genes that predispose one to Autism. However the authors were surprised that an environmental trigger was need to explain who got Autism.

If Autism was just genetic, why would Autism rates be much higher as you move to higher latitudes. There have been refuges from Africa (Somalia and Eritrea?) that moved closer to the arctic circle (Finland & northern Canada). When they started having babies they began noticing neurological problems that they had never seen in babies born in their homeland. It was Autism. If even a significant percent of Autism cases were determined genetically, there would not be a latitude dependence. The most important environmental trigger very likely vitamin D deficiency.

Vitamin D is neither a vitamin (it is a hormone) nor is it just important for the bones. It is an essential part of the immune system learning to not attack the self. A significant percent (maybe a majority) of Autism is autoimmune as is diabetes, multiple sclerosis and many other neurological diseases. Genetics directly causes a minority of the preceding diseases.

The root cause of all of this started just after WWII when 3 children died from large doses of injected active vitamin D. The AMA declared vitamin D toxic and set the daily requirement (200 IU) high enough to prevent rickets. Three years later it was pointed out the children that had died had the same genetic disease that affects calcium regulation but the warning was ignored and the limit was left at 200 IU/day. Thus the daily requirement was not based on science and therefore is part of Evidently Based Medicine. Since that time vitamin D researchers have figured out how much vitamin D is in the blood of people who are in the sun a lot and how fast it is made. A person with fair skin in a swim suit (no sunscreen) standing in sunlight that casts a shadow shorter than their height will make roughly 1000 IU/minute and will make 15,000-20,000 IU/30 minutes (a 75 day supply at 200 IU/day). Researchers recommend most adults need 4000-5000 IU/per day or more accurately they recommend a blood level of 50-80 ng/ml of vitamin D3. The Food and Nutrition board has finally set the tolerable upper limit to 4000 IU.

Because we are told to avoid sun exposure and the amount of vitamin D we are advised to get is 200-400 IU, perhaps 70% of the population is deficient in vitamin D. This matches with what has happened with the Autism rate (which goes up at the end of winter) as well as the greatly increased rate of all of the other autoimmune diseases. As long as you are low on vitamin D you are at risk of developing an autoimmune disease which explains why many people have 2 or 3 of them.

There is another environmental trigger that makes it much more likely you will develop an autoimmune disease. That trigger is stimulation of the immune system by infections and anything else that stimulates the immune system. The probably rarely happens if
one's vitamin D levels are in the healthy range (50-80 ng/ml). I doubt that mercury has much to do with triggering autoimmune diseases but any kind of stimulation of the immune system certainly does.

Good sources for vitamin D are at (links removed because of complaints HuckleB)