Autism spectrum disorder, commonly called autism, typically manifests before the age of 3 in children and may lead to symptoms like fear of social interaction, repetitive behaviors and difficulty with communication. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the rate of autism spectrum disorder in children has been on the rise since 2002. At the time of publication, research into vitamin B-12 supplementation as a possible treatment for autism is ongoing.
Vitamin Function
The University of Minnesota points out that autism has been tentatively linked to impairments of methylation and sulfation, which are cellular growth processes. Vitamin B-12 contributes to the synthesis of the amino acid methionine in the human body. Methionine contributes toward the methylation of DNA and RNA. It may be through this pathway that vitamin B-12 aids in the treatment of autism.
Vision Loss
In 2010, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia produced groundbreaking research regarding autistic children experiencing vision loss. The study examined three autistic children exhibiting signs of vision loss, all of whom had documented vitamin B-12 deficiencies because they did not eat meat or drink milk. After administering a vitamin B-12 injection, the vision in all three patients improved moderately.
Behavior Treatment
One 2010 pilot study appearing in the "Journal of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine" probed a possible link between vitamin B-12 injections and behavior improvement for autistic children. The study was 12 weeks long, double-blind and placebo controlled. Though nine of the 30 subjects showed some marked improvement in the assumed chemical pathway that causes behavioral problems, the researchers did not note a significant improvement in behavior from the study group.
Recommended Intake
In the first three years of life, children need less than 1 mcg of vitamin B-12 per day to meet their requirements. This value increases to 1.2 mcg between the ages of 4 and 8, and 1.8 mcg from 9 to 13 years old. Even at high doses, vitamin B-12 is not toxic or likely to cause adverse side effects because the human body expunges most vitamin B-12 beyond its requirements.
References
- Linus Pauling Institute; Vitamin B12; Jane Higdon, Ph.D.; March 2003
- University of Minnesota; Autism Spectrum Disorders; Allison Golnik, M.D., M.P.H.
- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Vitamin B12 Deficiency Causes Vision Loss in Autistic Children With Severely Limited Diets, Children's Hospital Study Finds; Juliann Walsh; October 2010
- "Journal of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine"; Pilot Study of the Effect of Methyl B12 Treatment on Behavioral and Biomarker Measures in Children with Autism; K. Bertoglio, et al.; May 2010
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Autism Spectrum Disorders--Data and Statistics; May 2010
