I left medical school thinking of my genome as something I inherited at birth and left to my children in the marriage bed, without giving much thought to what my genome does for me in between.

Think of your genes as the brain of your biochemistry, and, more important, that without a properly functioning genome you would be dead before you finished reading this newsletter. Genes are determining your biochemistry as you read this newest case report, delete it, or forward to a friend whose family is afflicted with autism.

… I believe what vitamin D is doing in these autism cases is improving regulation (vitamin D is having the proper genes being turned on or off as needed by the brain) but I do not know if any permanent improvement in functionality is occurring. However, I do know that the brains of these kids are in a race against time, the longer their brains are autistic, the more likely their brains will be permanently and forever damaged.

via vitamindcouncil.org

This excerpt from Dr. Cannell of the Vitamin D Council is exciting. He’s spent the last few years paying attention to the amazing clinical relationship of vitamin D and autism, and forming a new hypothesis about the role of vitamin D in genetic regulation. He believes that autism is genetic – we agree that genes can predispose someone to autism, but that a biological trigger “the straw that breaks the camel’s back” is also part of the picture.

Our book (in the late stages of negotiation with a NY based publisher!) has a large section on vitamin D3 and pregnancy. One of the easiest things you can do to increase your health, reduce your pregnancy risks, and your risk of flu while pregnant, is to take vitamin D3 (not D2 found in milk) at about 1,000 IU per 25lbs of body weight. Ideally, get your levels tested. It’s most affordable at http://www.zrtlab.com/vitamindcouncil . If your levels are below about 90, work with your doctor or nutritionist to bring them up. Some people respond more or less to vitamin D3. In our case, Lana needs about 8,000 IU per day (the suggested dose for a 200lb person) even though she weighs significantly less than 140 lbs! Dave needs 17,000 IU per day (the dose for a 425 lb person!) even though he weighs 200lbs. He’s genetically predisposed to need more D3 than average. Without blood tests, neither of us would be taking enough.

Vitamin D3 – also called cholecalciferol – is incredibly cheap and widely available. If you do nothing else on this site or in our book, please for your own sake and your baby, get your Vitamin D3 in order!