Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 12/01/2016

Saad K, et al. – A double–blinded, randomized clinical trial (RCT) was conducted to survey the impacts of vitamin D supplementation on the core symptoms of autism in children. The results of this study suggest that oral vitamin D supplementation may safely improve signs and symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and could be suggested for children with ASD.
Methods

• For this trial, 109 children were enroolled with ASD (85 boys and 24 girls; aged 3–10 years).
• ASD patients were randomized to get vitamin D3 or placebo for 4 months.
• The serum levels of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (25 (OH)D) were measured toward the start and toward the end of the study.
• The autism severity and social maturity of the children were surveyed by the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC), Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), and the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC).

Results

• It was observed in the findings that supplementation of vitamin D was well tolerated by the ASD children.
  The daily doses used in the therapy group was 300 IU vitamin D3/kg/day, not to surpass 5,000 IU/day.
  The autism symptoms of the children enhanced significantly, following 4-month vitamin D3 supplementation, but not in the placebo group.
  The results of this study seemed to indicate the efficacy and tolerability of high doses of vitamin D3 in children with ASD.