Vitamin A therapy may help children with autism who are also vitamin A deficient.
This case study of an 8-year-old boy describes his symptoms of autism and severe eye problems. He squeezed his eyes shut often. The doctors reported several problems with his eyes, including sores and cloudy (opaque) corneas. The child was a picky eater who, for four years, ate only fried potatoes and drank only water. His vitamin A blood levels were very low. After a month of vitamin A therapy, his eyes were improved. His behavior problems were also less severe.
Autism Therapy: deficient
definition of deficient: State of having less than normal levels of something.
No Factsheets to Display
- Child: Care, Health and Development, by Uyanik, O., Dogangun B., Kayaalp L., Korkmaz B., and Dervent A., published in 2006, summarized Oct 16, 2009
- J Hum Nutr Diet., by Cornish, E., published in 2002, summarized Nov 14, 2006
This article concludes that children with autism on casein- and gluten-free diets are receiving approximately the same nutrition as children with autism not on elimination diets.
This study focused on 37 children with autism; 8 were on gluten- and casein-free diets, and 29 were not. The parents of these children completed questionnaires about the diets of their children. The results showed no significant differences between the dietary intakes of the two groups. However, children on the casein- and gluten-free diets were more likely to be deficient in calcium, copper, iron, and zinc. The authors commented that children on the elimination diets ate more fruits and vegetables than the children on non-elimination diets.
- Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids, by Richardson, AJ, and Ross MA, published in 2000, summarized Nov 14, 2006
This article summarizes the evidence that several related disorders, including autism, may all result from problems with the way the body uses fatty acids.
Some of the more common neurodevelopmental disorders are: ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia (DCD), and autism. This article introduces a special issue of this journal about neurodevelopmental disorders and fatty acids. The authors give evidence that these disorders are linked to one another, in that they share a related set of symptoms, and in that children who have been diagnosed with one of them are more likely than those in the general population to be diagnosed with another. Further, they note that each of these disorders affects boys more often than girls. This is relevant because males are more likely to be deficient in essential fatty acids (EFAs) than females. The authors outline the research showing that EFA deficiency, or abnormalities in the way the body uses EFA, have been found in all four of these conditions. They conclude that supplementation with EFAs may be useful to treat these disorders, and that more research into the relationship between the way the body uses fatty acids and neurodevelopmental disorders is needed.
- Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids., by Bell, JG, MacKinlay EE, Dick JR, MacDonald DJ, Boyle RM, and Glen AC, published in 2004, summarized Nov 14, 2006
This article describes research showing that children with autism have lower levels of omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFAs) in their blood than typical children. Moreover, supplementation with omega-3 EFAs generally improves the behavior of children with autism.
This article describes several experiments to test the idea that children with autism are deficient in essential fatty acids (EFAs). In the first study, parents were asked to rate their childrenâ??s physical characteristics against a checklist of indicators for EFA deficiency. These characteristics included: dry skin, dry hair, dandruff, and excessive thirst. A group of 94 children with autism (ages not given) and another group of 10 children with Aspergerâ??s syndrome both had significantly higher ratings on these questionnaires than a group of 71 children without autism, suggesting that autism can be linked to EFA deficiency. In another study, blood levels of EFAs in 29 children with autism or Aspergerâ??s syndrome were compared with those of 55 controls. Overall, the results showed that the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio was significantly higher in children with autism or Aspergerâ??s than in controls, again suggesting that autism can be linked to EFA deficiency.
No News to Display
Please comment on deficient or other autism therapy topics.
Twitter
Facebook
By Email
RSS Feed
Please comment on this autism topic.
Family
Jan 18, 2007 by AnonymousWe all know that extended families can provide incredible help as the immediate family pulls together to support a child with autism. Sometimes, however, extended families just don't understand the situation and what they can do to help. Here is an example of a letter that one member of our community sent to her extended family to help them to understand her son.
Please click the edit button above and paste in examples of other letters that you have sent to your extended family to help them to understand.
== Letter ==
Dear....
I want to tell you how much we enjoyed seeing you again. Thanksgiving is such a special time of year to gather families together.
It has occurred to me that, although we told you a few years ago about the diagnosis of Aspergers Syndrome, we have not kept you up-to-date with what we can expect from our child as he grows older.
I don’t know if you remember the basics of his diagnosis. Aspergers is a form of autism, which exhibits problem behaviors clustered in three main areas:
Lack of social abilities
In Aspergers, this deficiency is exhibited by a profound lack of empathy and understanding of other people. This leads to a failure to behave appropriately in social situations and an inability to comprehend and consider the needs of other people. The person may not be able to interpret other people’s actions and thus may respond to them
oddly or incorrectly.
Obsessive-compulsive tendencies
Here, the person cannot ignore or distract himself from inner wants and desires. He is likely to get stuck desiring a particular action and meltdown--unable to go further than demanding a fulfillment of this desire. Another contributor to this problem is the person’s sensory sensitivity and difficulty in dealing with changes in his surroundings. This makes him vulnerable to stresses that may not be readily apparent to others, and may lead him to increased reliance on comfort rituals and objects.
Language difficulties
A person with Aspergers appears to be entirely fluent in language. If anything, he talks too much. With his lack of social understanding and obsessive tendencies, the person is apt to talk incessantly and interminably about the esoteric minutiae of a single favorite topic which is the overriding interest in his life. He tends to interrupt often, without the ability to recognize that others need to participate in the conversation or possibly change the subject.
Another topic which is mentioned quite often is Executive Function. Executive functions are that rather vague but very important set of faculties which enable a person to set realistic goals and to coordinate, organize, and complete a project. Often Autistic and Aspergers people have a profound lack of these abilities. They cannot learn or master these skills, and that inability severely impacts their personal and professional life.
I imagine you have seen all these characteristics in my child through the years. What the Aspergers diagnosis tells us is that, unfortunately, most of these difficulties are incurable and will respond to instruction only with a slight change. We have been told that, unfortunately, his condition is not likely to improve substantially in the future.
We have tried, through modifications in his schooling, through counseling and psychiatric advice, and through development of his various talents (computer programming, pipe organ, mathematics) to find an area where he can be productive and develop self-help skills. Unfortunately, he has been unable to succeed at any of these tasks, in spite of his many talents, predominantly because his executive function is so deficient.
So, the trick becomes to give him as many coping skills as we can to smooth his interactions with the outside world. This is, of course, complicated by his lack of realization that there is anything about him which needs changing. (Remember, he has no ability to compare himself accurately with others).
In the opinion of all of the professionals who have worked with him, he will almost certainly never work on a consistent basis, and will always need some form of sheltered environment. Our need to plan for this becomes a major concern. He has been qualified by the Social Security Administration as unemployable, and receives Social Security Disability payments, but, of course, his long-term situation remains a worry.
And there we are in a situation that is always changing and yet, ultimately, remains the same. We would welcome any ideas from you-sometimes a new view is helpful. In the meantime, if you care to delve further into Autism and Aspergers syndrome, the internet is great, though naturally, the material must be tested for validity against other sources, and applied with care, remembering the unique combination of a wide range and variety of disabilities in each person.
This letter is longer than I had planned, but I wanted to share with you some of our knowledge and concerns. We’ve learned all this bit by bit, so perhaps the information is not so overwhelming for us. We find, however, that it is still a lot to take in and accept. Sometimes I feel a bit like Sisyphus in Greek legend who keeps pushing a boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back down to the bottom. Mom sent me a cartoon once. It said: We may not know what’s around the bend in the road, but usually its more road. Sigh.
Essential Fatty Acids
Sep 24, 2006 by AnonymousEssential Fatty Acids
I could go on and on about essential fatty acids (EFAs). They are important. They are found in breast milk. Only recently are they being put in formula and only in the more expensive lipil formula. They are similar to the cod liver oil that our parents may have given us. There are plant sources of EFAs (i.e. flax) and animal sources (i.e. fish). Animal sources appear to be better absorbed and more effective than plant sources. There is a good and well thought out article on EFA's that can be found at PWS Playroom (http://www.pwsplayroom.com/efa.htm ).
These unsaturated fatty acids are easily used by your body to form the brain and the lipid layer around cells. Saturated fats (like butter) compete with unsaturated fats. There is some talk that ingestion of EFAs contributes to brain formation and intelligence. Have you heard about breast fed babies being smarter? If it is true, it is likely due to EFAs. Have you heard of fish being brain food? If this is true it is likely due to EFA's.
Check out the Cherab Foundation on EFAs (http://www.cherab.org/information/dietaryeffects/efabasics.html ). There is a lot of anecdotal evidence about fatty acids and language development. I found this story persuasive.
Finally, there is the role of these EFA's in metabolism. I haven't seen much discussion about this. I would welcome anyone's opinion as this is a stretch for me. But, there are a group of receptors called PPAR. They bind fatty acids and they are involved in numerous diseases including diabetes. Saturated fatty acids appear to bind them and initiate an inflammatory response that can have many bad downstream effects, such as heart disease. Unsaturated fatty acids compete for these receptors and have an anti-inflammatory effect. I am mulling this over...
[edit]
Sources
Nordic Naturals ProEFA. It can be found on http://www.speechville.com. You can order through the speechville site -- I know Kirkman labs and http://www.omega-direct.com handle this type. Other parents use the Natural Factors Rich Old Bend for Kid.
I have now switched to the Ultimate Omega formula. I am not convinced that we need more Omega-6's (present in the ProEFA blend) and would rather just supplement with the Omega-3's.
[edit]
Working them into your Diet
There is an interesting book called the Omega Diet that talks about oils. In my opinion, the book is a bit extreme, but makes really good points. I think that a diet high in flax oils and fish oils is good for most everyone.
I think that if you get into the groove it won't be so hard to incorporate. Maybe it will "work" and maybe it won't but probably you will all be healthier. There are many places to work in flax oil. There is a type of yummy bread made by Natural Ovens that has high levels of flax oils. They also make great (but expensive) snack bars. Plus, there are great frozen waffles with flax oil.
Fish can be eaten for fish oil and fish oil is pretty easy to take in capsule form. My whole family takes it. We call it "smart medicine."
The Omega Diet also mentions walnut oil and canola oil. I make my own salad dressings (oil and vinegar and spice) and switched from olive oil to walnut oil. It was pretty easy and tasty. I don't really bake, but keep thinking that bran muffins or banana nut bread made with walnut oil would probably be pretty tasty.
I am also a big honey person. When my kids want something sweet, I give them a teaspoonful of honey. They like it. Local honey is best if you can get it.
Also, this year we made the switch from regular potatoes to sweet potatoes. I am not sure what your guy would say about sweet potatoes, but they suit us well. It seems that you could do most anything with them that you could with real potatoes. Plus, they have the added benefit that you can add walnuts (and walnut oil??) and cinnamon and honey to them and call them dessert. :)
[edit]
Research
Nutr Health. 2004;18(1):3-27. Related Articles, Links
From superior adaptation and function to brain dysfunction--the neglect of epigenetic factors.
Saugstad LF.
Oslo Centre for Molecular Biology and Neuroscience, Institute for Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Norway.
With optimal pregnancy conditions (natural, enriched diet which includes fish) African (Digo) infants are 3-4 weeks ahead of European/American infants in sensorimotor terms at birth, and during the first year. Infants of semi-aquatic sea-gypsies swim before they walk, and have superior visual acuity compared with us. With adverse pregnancy behaviour (fear of fat, a trend to dieting), neglecting the need for brain fat to secure normal brain development and function, we run a risk of dysfunction--death. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome victims have depressed birth weight, lower levels of marine fat in brainstem than controls, and >80 suffer multiple hypoxic episodes prior to death. Depressed birth weight (more than 10% below mean) is seen in learning and behaviour disorders, and a trend towards weights of less than 3kg is increasing, which supports a rise in antenatal sub optimality. Given marine fat deficiency in pregnancy and infancy, neurons starved for fuel could delay myelination and maturation in the latest developed Frontal Lobes. The phylogenetic oldest Lateral Frontal Lobe System (feed-back mechanism etc.) derived from olfactory bulb-amygdala, which crosses in Anterior Commisure is probably spared, while the Medial Frontal Lobe System derived from Hippocampus-Cingulum and crosses in Corpus Callosum (delayed response task) is most likely affected. The rise in infantile autism (intact vision and hearing) with deficit in delayed response task only, could suggest a deficit in the Medial Frontal Lobe System. The human species is unique; 70% of total energy to the foetus goes to development of the brain, which mainly consists of marine fat. It undergoes pervasive regressive events, before birth, in infancy and at puberty. Minimal retraction of neuronal arborisation is advantageous. Attributable to adverse pregnancy childrearing practice, excessive retraction is likely prenatally and in infancy. Pubertal age affects the fundamental property of nervous tissue, excitability: excessive excitatory drive is seen in early, and a deficiency in late puberty. It is postulated that with adequate marine fat, there is probably no risk of psychopathology at the extremes, whereas a deficiency could lead to paroxysmal (subcortical) dysfunction in early puberty, and breakdown of cortical circuitry and cognitive dysfunctions in late puberty. The post-pubertal psychoses, schizophrenia and manic-depressive psychosis at the extremes of the pubertal age continuum, with contrasting excitability and biological treatment, are probably the result of continuous dietary deficiency, which has inactivated the expression of genes for myelin development and oligodendrocyte-related genes in their production of myelin. The beneficial effect of marine fat in both disorders, in other CNS disorders as well as in developmental dyslexia (DD) and ADHD among others, supports our usual diet is persistently deficient. We have neglected the similarity of our great brain to other mammals, and our marine heritage. Given the amount of marine fat needed to secure normal brain development and function is not known, nor the present dietary level, it seems unduly conjectural to postulate that a dietary deficiency in marine fat is causing brain dysfunction and death. However, all observations point in the same direction: our diet focusing on protein mainly, is deficient, the deficiency is most pronounced in maternal nutrition and in infancy.
Retrieved from "http://www.pwsnotes.org/Essential_Fatty_Acids"