Vitamin D Recommendations for Children on the Spectrum

VITAMIN D LATEST DOSES FOR ASD FROM EXPERTS 9_11_09

Recently, 16 nutrition experts, including Professor Walter Willett at Harvard, made specific recommendations about giving vitamin D to autistic children:

"The first thing to remember is that the current Adequate Intakes (AI) and Upper Intake Levels (UL) of vitamin D for children, set by the US Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) in 1997, are intended for non–medically supervised intake and do not — and never did — apply to medically supervised treatment. . . As a rule, in the absence of significant sun exposure, we believe that most healthy children need about 1,000 IU of vitamin D3 daily per 11 kg (25 lb) of body weight to obtain levels greater than 50 ng/mL. Some will need more, and others less. In our opinion, children with chronic illnesses such as autism,  diabetes, and/or frequent infections should be supplemented with higher doses of sunshine or vitamin D3, doses adequate to maintain their 25(OH)D levels in the mid-normal of the reference range (65 ng/mL) — and should be so supplemented year round."

Cannell JJ, Vieth R, Willett W, Zasloff M, Hathcock JN, White JH, Tanumihardjo SA, Larson-Meyer DE, Bischoff-Ferrari HA, Lamberg-Allardt CJ, Lappe JM, Norman AW, Zittermann A, Whiting SJ, Grant WB, Hollis BW, Giovannucci E. Cod liver oil, vitamin A toxicity, frequent respiratory infections, and the vitamin D deficiency epidemic. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 2008 Nov;117(11):864-70.

In general, to obtain 25(OH)D levels of 65 ng/ml, children need between 1,000 and 2,000 IU per every 25 pounds of body weight and that dose will require many months of administration to obtain 25-hydroxy vitamin D levels of 65 ng/ml.  It is better to give 5,000 IU per day for several months until 65 ng/ml is reached and then halve the dose and retest in 3 months. There is zero risk of toxicity at these doses.